I'm usually three or four days late looking at the Sunday paper. I just find it a lot of noise that means very little to me. But once in a while I find something I especially like. Here is a link to the Non Sequitur strip from 9 Mar 08. It describes me almost perfectly.
http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2008/03/09/?campid=0&ssns=9&
I stupidly registered as a Republican when we moved to Florida. Thus before every election I receive fifteen or twenty calls trying to get me to vote for some idiot Republican or another. Please don't get me wrong, all Republican's are not idiots but sometimes it sure seems that all people running for office are!
Polls and statistics are another hot button. Mr. Miller has really nailed the pollsters in his strip. Well, you have to remember that the pollster is being paid by someone who wants a certain result from the poll. Yes, Virginia, even tv sponsored polls can be slanted. Even if you want to be fair, it's tough to both write questions and provide answers that will enable a range of answers to complex questions.
Enough rant. Tonight I'm off to a meeting of my local American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) group. Every month we have a speaker from a mutual fund company, brokerage or such who talks to us about their investing methodology. Many are a little too technical for me; I think the markets are both emotional and political so technical answers don't really satisfy me. But that's just my un-humble opinion. There are plenty of technicians who have made money in the stock market. Still, I learn something from every speaker. If nothing else they pique my interest in areas that I've never before considered. Here is the national web site: http://www.aaii.com/ for those who might like to check it out.
Take it easy out there; it's dangerous!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Florida Scene
This is an odd winter. We had one freeze that damaged a bunch of plants. But we haven't had the consistently nice weather that one comes to expect. There has been a lot of cool cloudy weather and quite a lot of rain. The rain is good because the state has had a water shortage for many years; but in the Tampa area we are almost 2 inches above normal so far this year. When our friends were here we went out to Clearwater Beach and got sand blasted off the beach. The breeze picked up that sand and just peppered you with it. Today we are having 20 mph gusts. It's just different this year!
Yesterday I was in John Chestnut County Park. It is on the other side of Lake Tarpon from the photos I posted few weeks ago. Here there is a boat ramp and some places where you can fish from the shore. I got a kick out of the avian help that these two guys had.
Have a good one!
Yesterday I was in John Chestnut County Park. It is on the other side of Lake Tarpon from the photos I posted few weeks ago. Here there is a boat ramp and some places where you can fish from the shore. I got a kick out of the avian help that these two guys had.
Have a good one!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Alone at last!
We've had friends visiting us since the 28th of February. It's a long time even though we love them dearly. It's a long time even though they took time out to visit other people in other parts of Florida. But now they are gone.
Back to my morning computer fix. Back to a 'normal' amount of coffee. Back to cooking for two. Back to quiet. Back to blogging!
The couple who visited are really nice but the woman can talk non-stop for several hours. I've no idea how she breathes since she certainly doesn't have to pause for it. She does read though and that quiets her for a while. Maybe she is storing up oxygen during that time for later use. The guy doesn't talk as much (how could he?) but he doesn't read. So he is always around to talk if his wife is reading. Of course, this last week has been fairly cool so we were stuck in the house a lot. Yeah, just to make escape more difficult. LOL We did go out to the beach but the wind was kicking up the sand so it was practically sand blasting our skin off.
All I can say is "Thank Goodness for alcohol"!!!
Back to my morning computer fix. Back to a 'normal' amount of coffee. Back to cooking for two. Back to quiet. Back to blogging!
The couple who visited are really nice but the woman can talk non-stop for several hours. I've no idea how she breathes since she certainly doesn't have to pause for it. She does read though and that quiets her for a while. Maybe she is storing up oxygen during that time for later use. The guy doesn't talk as much (how could he?) but he doesn't read. So he is always around to talk if his wife is reading. Of course, this last week has been fairly cool so we were stuck in the house a lot. Yeah, just to make escape more difficult. LOL We did go out to the beach but the wind was kicking up the sand so it was practically sand blasting our skin off.
All I can say is "Thank Goodness for alcohol"!!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Gas mileage woes
Recently I posted couple of photos and complained about the streets/highways we have around here. Of course, the price of gasoline is going up; and fluctuating as well. One day it is $2.95 a gallon and three days later it is $3.15. Nothing to many other countries but for this country clearly someone in the chain is making serious money. I'm expecting a Congressional investigation after they get tired of bothering baseball players.
It is very flat here, no hills to speak of, but most speed limits are 45 mph (traffic moving a bit faster) and there are stop lights every 1 to 3 miles. Now in a reasonable world, these lights would be coordinated so one could travel many miles on a main road without being stopped. Not so here! There are lots of local governments that have control over their own lights. Therefore, they aren't in sync and the driver gets to stop a lot.
This doesn't help mileage! Going from zero to 50 then back to zero every two miles for a twenty-five mile trip is wasteful; to put it mildly! I typically drive our pickup truck. It's a small one (for the breed) with only a 5.3 liter gasoline engine. It really gets pretty good mileage considering what it is and our local conditions. I have raised it's in-town miles per gallon from 15 to 18 (from 15l/100km to 13l/100km) by using a 2000 rpm limit. I just keep a light foot on the accelerator and it will shift at 2000. I keep up with most traffic using this technique. It's easy enough to pass me while I'm accelerating but only about ten percent of cars do. This country is known for it's non-adherence to the idea of the left lane is the fast lane. I do though, basically I never use the left lane because I know my acceleration will be too slow for those folks. Here's a picture from the driver's seat going over the Bay Bridge; you see 2000 rpm isn't too tough on my desire to move quickly. You might also manage to make out that the truck has 110,000 miles (175,000 km or so); about 40,000 of which were towing our 7,000 pound travel trailer. It's a very nice vehicle; American car manufacturers may be losing money hand over fist but they are building some pretty nice machines.
Have a good one!
It is very flat here, no hills to speak of, but most speed limits are 45 mph (traffic moving a bit faster) and there are stop lights every 1 to 3 miles. Now in a reasonable world, these lights would be coordinated so one could travel many miles on a main road without being stopped. Not so here! There are lots of local governments that have control over their own lights. Therefore, they aren't in sync and the driver gets to stop a lot.
This doesn't help mileage! Going from zero to 50 then back to zero every two miles for a twenty-five mile trip is wasteful; to put it mildly! I typically drive our pickup truck. It's a small one (for the breed) with only a 5.3 liter gasoline engine. It really gets pretty good mileage considering what it is and our local conditions. I have raised it's in-town miles per gallon from 15 to 18 (from 15l/100km to 13l/100km) by using a 2000 rpm limit. I just keep a light foot on the accelerator and it will shift at 2000. I keep up with most traffic using this technique. It's easy enough to pass me while I'm accelerating but only about ten percent of cars do. This country is known for it's non-adherence to the idea of the left lane is the fast lane. I do though, basically I never use the left lane because I know my acceleration will be too slow for those folks. Here's a picture from the driver's seat going over the Bay Bridge; you see 2000 rpm isn't too tough on my desire to move quickly. You might also manage to make out that the truck has 110,000 miles (175,000 km or so); about 40,000 of which were towing our 7,000 pound travel trailer. It's a very nice vehicle; American car manufacturers may be losing money hand over fist but they are building some pretty nice machines.
Have a good one!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Reading corner
Books I've been reading.
For the first time in quite a while I've been reading some non-fiction. A relative loaned me two books on submarines and I've enjoyed both. "Torpedo Junction" by Homer Hickam is the true story of the a little known part of WWII. In 1942 the German navy sent a few submarines to attack shipping off the US coast. They were successful beyond anyone's dreams. The US was doing nothing at all to protect shipping so the subs could just lie offshore and wait until a ship came between them and the lights on the shore. They could then easily see what kind of ship it was and torpedo it if it were big and important enough. It was an interesting story. The author talked to many survivors of the sinkings, ex-submariners in Germany and US Coast Guard sailors of the time. Very interesting and a fast read.
The second book was "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. Another true story, this tells of two men who became obsessed by a sunken submarine they found while diving. It was clearly a German sub but no sub was known to be within several hundred miles of it's position. They spent several years and a bunch of money diving on the sub and researching the identity of the boat they had found. Added to the mystery was the danger of diving at the depths required to reach the sub. Another well researched true story about subs.
Finally, I got "The Club Dumas" by Arturo Perez-Reverte from the library. I found his books in the bookstore and thought it might be interesting. It's sort of a mystery and sort of a thriller. It is beautifully translated from Spanish by Sonia Soto. Reminds me somewhat of "The DiVinci Code" in that I can only follow about a tenth of the references without assistance.
Happy reading!
P.S. "The Club Dumas" turned out to be somewhat disappointing. The person responsible for the murders turns out insane at the end and there is no actual evidence of their responsibility. The motivations behind another character are completely unexplained; even their existance is glossed over. I'll try another of the author's books though because I did like his/his translator's use of language.
For the first time in quite a while I've been reading some non-fiction. A relative loaned me two books on submarines and I've enjoyed both. "Torpedo Junction" by Homer Hickam is the true story of the a little known part of WWII. In 1942 the German navy sent a few submarines to attack shipping off the US coast. They were successful beyond anyone's dreams. The US was doing nothing at all to protect shipping so the subs could just lie offshore and wait until a ship came between them and the lights on the shore. They could then easily see what kind of ship it was and torpedo it if it were big and important enough. It was an interesting story. The author talked to many survivors of the sinkings, ex-submariners in Germany and US Coast Guard sailors of the time. Very interesting and a fast read.
The second book was "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. Another true story, this tells of two men who became obsessed by a sunken submarine they found while diving. It was clearly a German sub but no sub was known to be within several hundred miles of it's position. They spent several years and a bunch of money diving on the sub and researching the identity of the boat they had found. Added to the mystery was the danger of diving at the depths required to reach the sub. Another well researched true story about subs.
Finally, I got "The Club Dumas" by Arturo Perez-Reverte from the library. I found his books in the bookstore and thought it might be interesting. It's sort of a mystery and sort of a thriller. It is beautifully translated from Spanish by Sonia Soto. Reminds me somewhat of "The DiVinci Code" in that I can only follow about a tenth of the references without assistance.
Happy reading!
P.S. "The Club Dumas" turned out to be somewhat disappointing. The person responsible for the murders turns out insane at the end and there is no actual evidence of their responsibility. The motivations behind another character are completely unexplained; even their existance is glossed over. I'll try another of the author's books though because I did like his/his translator's use of language.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Misc. Foolishness
I was reading Wombat's http://limousinelife.blogspot.com/ the other day and he suggested that the average age in the Tampa area was 241. He's probably close. I get a kick out of folks like the ones in this photo. It's a new motorcycle club - Hell's Grandparents.
What are they thinking? First of all, motorcycling isn't generally an old person's sport. If either of these people dropped their bike, even in a parking lot, they'd need a crane to help them pick it up. Then, of course, there is the lack of helmets. The law in Florida says they aren't required and actually I prefer that it be left to the individual whether they wish to wear one or not. However, I also think it's pretty dumb not to wear one! These folks are riding on a heavily traveled road. Three lane in each direction and traffic moves between 50 and 60 mph (that's almost 100 kph) though the speed limit is 45. It's just not the place to take chances.
The second photo is of a new 'safety' feature our local government has purchased. It is a new kind of walk-don't walk sign that has a countdown timer to tell you when the light is going to change. This was taken a couple miles away from the previous photo but on the same road. Here the speeds are, if anything, a little higher than there. There are VERY few pedestrians in this area however I think the drivers really like the new signs. It gives them warning that they have to speed up to make the light! I don't think that was the intention but you know how these things work.
Drive safely until next time.
13 Feb 08 - Found these statistics from 2001 - the most recent I could find in the USA Today newspaper.
The metro areas are ranked by the number of traffic deaths per 100,000 residents in 2000.
1. Orlando 18.8
2. Tampa-St. Petersburg 17.6
3. West Palm Beach 16.6
4. Austin 15.8
5. Las Vegas 15.4
6. Phoenix 15.2
7. Memphis 14.7
8. Jacksonville 14.6
9. Fort Lauderdale 14.5
10. Kansas City 14.2
Sources: The Road Information Program, NHTSA
The article suggested several reasons for the number of Florida cities in this list. They included elderly drivers and the number of visitors. There was no information about motorcyclists. I would include the fact that many Florida cities have a large number of high speed streets. In New York you might get hit by a cab but it'll only be going 30 mph not 60.
What are they thinking? First of all, motorcycling isn't generally an old person's sport. If either of these people dropped their bike, even in a parking lot, they'd need a crane to help them pick it up. Then, of course, there is the lack of helmets. The law in Florida says they aren't required and actually I prefer that it be left to the individual whether they wish to wear one or not. However, I also think it's pretty dumb not to wear one! These folks are riding on a heavily traveled road. Three lane in each direction and traffic moves between 50 and 60 mph (that's almost 100 kph) though the speed limit is 45. It's just not the place to take chances.
The second photo is of a new 'safety' feature our local government has purchased. It is a new kind of walk-don't walk sign that has a countdown timer to tell you when the light is going to change. This was taken a couple miles away from the previous photo but on the same road. Here the speeds are, if anything, a little higher than there. There are VERY few pedestrians in this area however I think the drivers really like the new signs. It gives them warning that they have to speed up to make the light! I don't think that was the intention but you know how these things work.
Drive safely until next time.
13 Feb 08 - Found these statistics from 2001 - the most recent I could find in the USA Today newspaper.
The metro areas are ranked by the number of traffic deaths per 100,000 residents in 2000.
1. Orlando 18.8
2. Tampa-St. Petersburg 17.6
3. West Palm Beach 16.6
4. Austin 15.8
5. Las Vegas 15.4
6. Phoenix 15.2
7. Memphis 14.7
8. Jacksonville 14.6
9. Fort Lauderdale 14.5
10. Kansas City 14.2
Sources: The Road Information Program, NHTSA
The article suggested several reasons for the number of Florida cities in this list. They included elderly drivers and the number of visitors. There was no information about motorcyclists. I would include the fact that many Florida cities have a large number of high speed streets. In New York you might get hit by a cab but it'll only be going 30 mph not 60.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
It's Over! And a new beginning.
Whew! Having a party is fun but stressful even when you do whatever you can to make it easier. This one was fine. Lots of talk, a little impromptu dancing, eating and drinking; all the usual stuff. I think everyone had a good time. Much to my chagrin I've got a little hang over this morning. Maybe I can blame it on the cigarette smoke. LOL No, Don, don't you think it might be the booze? Hmmm, gotta consider that. The Pinot Grigio was flowing pretty freely, to the point that I lost track of the number of bottles I opened. Guess we have to do our share to prop up the euro. And the scotch I was drinking would help the pound. At least the food was from the US. Well, anyway, now we can go to our friend's parties guilt free.
While we were busy with the party, life went on. We now have a new second cousin twice removed (or whatever) born last night. As an indicator of the quality of life in this country at this time, the child was born out of wedlock so the mother's parent's insurance would cover the birth. I don't really give a *$%& and I know the parents will love and care for their child; indeed, they will probably marry now. But I think it's pretty sad that choices like that have to be made. If you choose not to marry but still wish to have children, that's fine. I respect that. But to restrain yourself from marrying prior to your child's birth for economic reasons is really sad. Having said that, the parents are very young and may decide that they do not wish to marry now that the impetus is gone.
Life in the fast lane, huh. Have a good one.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Quiet Week
It's pretty quiet around here these days. In our neighborhood there are four or five families who ocassionally give parties. It's our turn so we are having a party for 12 - 16 people Saturday afternoon. It will be fun, we, especially my wife, just doesn't like doing it. We know it is our turn, we know it will be fine, we know everyone will have fun but still, it's a struggle. It is just getting through it. Next week will be better.
Weather isn't helping any. Its been warm but now it's cooling off when we will have people over. Our house isn't big enough for 15; we need the outside areas. Oh well, maybe they will leave earlier!
BTW - we are still eating away on the leftovers! We just finished off the chicken rice tonight. That was one big doorstop! Tasty but next time I've got to put in less rice. LOL Leave it to me to screw up something simple.
More next week. Have a good weekend.
Weather isn't helping any. Its been warm but now it's cooling off when we will have people over. Our house isn't big enough for 15; we need the outside areas. Oh well, maybe they will leave earlier!
BTW - we are still eating away on the leftovers! We just finished off the chicken rice tonight. That was one big doorstop! Tasty but next time I've got to put in less rice. LOL Leave it to me to screw up something simple.
More next week. Have a good weekend.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Leftovers
The fridge is full of leftovers and I thought I'd share with you all. Wish I could in actual fact too!
A week or so ago Cinn at dancingangelcafe.blogspot.com gave a chicken & rice recipe. I had a little more than 2 pounds (a kilo give or take) of chicken thighs in the freezer and thought it sounded like a great use for them. I tried making it but put in way too much rice. So I added some more chicken and ended up with this mess. It tastes ok but you could make a nice doorstop out of it if you let it dry just a bit.
There's a pork loin roast. We cook it with garlic & herbs then the leftovers get eaten just for snacks. I should probably learn to make something more substantial but it doesn't usually last long enough.
There is some Cajun Roast left from last night. A guy named Justin Wilson used to have a cajun cooking show on public tv. He was actually a Safety Engineer for some public utility but he had the show and wrote a couple of looseleaf books that we found. This is a favorite from one of them. You salt & pepper a chuck roast then cut 4 or 5 slits in each side. You insert a piece of garlic, green onion & pepper in each slit. (We use a jalapeno.) Then you toss it in a cooking bag with potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms & wine. In about 3 hours you have a lovely piece of meat. The vegies don't do all that well though; sometime I'm going to try leaving them out but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm sure they add a lot to the gravy though so maybe I should just not serve them. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.
Gotta go. It's "fasting blood test day" so it's nothing but water until we get the test done. Now there is a motivator to get moving! Have a good one.
Almost forgot! Watched the Giants win the Superbowl last night then found this link. Hope it works this year.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/62773-bullish-investors-should-be-rooting-for-the-ny-giants?source=d_email
A week or so ago Cinn at dancingangelcafe.blogspot.com gave a chicken & rice recipe. I had a little more than 2 pounds (a kilo give or take) of chicken thighs in the freezer and thought it sounded like a great use for them. I tried making it but put in way too much rice. So I added some more chicken and ended up with this mess. It tastes ok but you could make a nice doorstop out of it if you let it dry just a bit.
There's a pork loin roast. We cook it with garlic & herbs then the leftovers get eaten just for snacks. I should probably learn to make something more substantial but it doesn't usually last long enough.
There is some Cajun Roast left from last night. A guy named Justin Wilson used to have a cajun cooking show on public tv. He was actually a Safety Engineer for some public utility but he had the show and wrote a couple of looseleaf books that we found. This is a favorite from one of them. You salt & pepper a chuck roast then cut 4 or 5 slits in each side. You insert a piece of garlic, green onion & pepper in each slit. (We use a jalapeno.) Then you toss it in a cooking bag with potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms & wine. In about 3 hours you have a lovely piece of meat. The vegies don't do all that well though; sometime I'm going to try leaving them out but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm sure they add a lot to the gravy though so maybe I should just not serve them. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.
Gotta go. It's "fasting blood test day" so it's nothing but water until we get the test done. Now there is a motivator to get moving! Have a good one.
Almost forgot! Watched the Giants win the Superbowl last night then found this link. Hope it works this year.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/62773-bullish-investors-should-be-rooting-for-the-ny-giants?source=d_email
Friday, February 01, 2008
OMG!
I just read about this:
http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html
You can now use google to check out the sky above your head! Want to see a constellation? Did you hear that a planet is close to earth this week? They say it's all there. I've got to download this thing and check it out. Wow!
It's fluff, of course, but if it motivates a few children to become astronomers or astronauts; that's a good thing. It's better than watching tv.
http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html
You can now use google to check out the sky above your head! Want to see a constellation? Did you hear that a planet is close to earth this week? They say it's all there. I've got to download this thing and check it out. Wow!
It's fluff, of course, but if it motivates a few children to become astronomers or astronauts; that's a good thing. It's better than watching tv.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Clever site
Corporations are trying to figure out the internet and how to use it to increase sales. Here's an innovative idea from HEMA. It is a Dutch department store. I'm told that the first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam and that now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany . Take a look at HEMA's product page . You can't order anything and it's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.
This has to get attention which is the whole point of advertising.
http://producten.hema.nl/
This has to get attention which is the whole point of advertising.
http://producten.hema.nl/
Monday, January 28, 2008
Rant - the financial mess
If you are interested in finance, the stock markets and that whole area as I am, you are probably well aware of the amazing stupidity, cupidity and downright duplicity of our "financial community". Little by little the news is getting out that these people are making the old "robber barons" like John D. Rockefeller look like pretty nice people.
The stories of the guy who brought down Barings Bank and now the guy who caused a French bank to lose something like $7 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros I think) are the stories of crooks. They get caught sometimes and go to jail sometimes and sometimes not. I don't really care about them. It's the other ones that bother me.
The people who have invented these incredibly complex transactions are the people who are scary. I was reading about this financial product called a TOB - a Tender Option Bond. What they do is buy a municipal bond - a bond issued by some local governmental agency. In the US the interest on such bonds is usually tax-free. Then they borrow perhaps 80% of the value of the bond using it as collateral; then they borrow more money, like the remaining 20%, from someone else again using the bond as collateral. Thus, you are getting interest tax free but have your money back as well while paying interest that is tax deductible for corporations. It is when the lender's start fooling around trying to reduce the chance of loss that things get hairy.
The problem is that it does get much more complicated from there. Interest rate changes, especially, are going to change the value of the basic bond; therefore the amount borrowed may no longer be secured. The people who work in brokerage houses can't tell the future any better than your horoscope. I don't believe they can see the problems inherent with these complexities either. That's why Warren Buffett keeps speaking out against derivatives - the more complex the transaction, the more likely it is to crash.
I wish there was a way to get the world out of this mess but it's going to be ugly if it ever does happen. It will make this subprime mess look like good days. So what can we do? 1. Try not to invest in weird things like this. 2. Sit quietly and hope like hell nothing happens! At least those are the only ideas I have. If you have any, I'd love to hear them.
The stories of the guy who brought down Barings Bank and now the guy who caused a French bank to lose something like $7 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros I think) are the stories of crooks. They get caught sometimes and go to jail sometimes and sometimes not. I don't really care about them. It's the other ones that bother me.
The people who have invented these incredibly complex transactions are the people who are scary. I was reading about this financial product called a TOB - a Tender Option Bond. What they do is buy a municipal bond - a bond issued by some local governmental agency. In the US the interest on such bonds is usually tax-free. Then they borrow perhaps 80% of the value of the bond using it as collateral; then they borrow more money, like the remaining 20%, from someone else again using the bond as collateral. Thus, you are getting interest tax free but have your money back as well while paying interest that is tax deductible for corporations. It is when the lender's start fooling around trying to reduce the chance of loss that things get hairy.
The problem is that it does get much more complicated from there. Interest rate changes, especially, are going to change the value of the basic bond; therefore the amount borrowed may no longer be secured. The people who work in brokerage houses can't tell the future any better than your horoscope. I don't believe they can see the problems inherent with these complexities either. That's why Warren Buffett keeps speaking out against derivatives - the more complex the transaction, the more likely it is to crash.
I wish there was a way to get the world out of this mess but it's going to be ugly if it ever does happen. It will make this subprime mess look like good days. So what can we do? 1. Try not to invest in weird things like this. 2. Sit quietly and hope like hell nothing happens! At least those are the only ideas I have. If you have any, I'd love to hear them.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Sunny but cool
Florida is back to being sunny today but it's cool (67F or 19C) and breezy. Went out to the park and took a couple of pictures including this one. This is Lake Tarpon. It's in a very populated area but has a park on each shore and the water is kept pretty clean. I'm staying pretty quiet today. Just doing a few things around the house.
Cut up the meat for beef jerky this a.m. Jerky is a marinated, dried meat. I suppose you could make it out of almost any meat as long as it is lean. I marinate mine overnight in soy sauce and worcester sauce, add hot pepper flakes & a little onion powder and garlic powder. Tomorrow I'll put it on the dryer for five or six hours. I like it ok but my wife, daughter & everyone else really loves it. The three pounds (1.5 kg) of meat should make 12 or 14 ounces (400 g or so) of jerky. All we have to do in invite a couple of friends over and it would be gone.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Not so sunny, Florida
Went out to the local beach yesterday and got this photo of some folks determined to enjoy their stay. It wasn't snowing but it sure wasn't that nice either. When we lived in Washington state there was a saying to the effect that if you let the weather rule you, you'd never go out at all. Here sun is a lot more available so most local people would be hiding inside in this weather. These folks are certainly 'snowbirds'.
Some people don't like the snowbirds because when they come down here they really strain our resources. A doctor visit in the summer might be 'next week' but in the winter it's more like 'next month'. Trying to get your RV repaired in the winter is basically impossible. And I'm not going to speak of the dangers of having hordes of older, lost drivers running around in your city because I'd have to use some really bad language. Still, they are extremely important for the economy of Florida. This place would still be mostly swamp if it weren't for our visitors. So welcome to Florida. I'm glad you are missing out on the snow up north. (And I'll be happy when you head back next spring.) Enjoy the beach!
Monday, January 21, 2008
More Disney
Had a nice comment from meggie over at http://lifesfreetreats.blogspot.com/. She reminded me about a couple other Disney memories.
If you are considering visiting DisneyWorld in Orlando, you should be very careful about what ticket you buy. Each park charges a separate admission unless you buy a multi-park ticket. Parking at each is separate (generally $11 a day) and not included in the admission. The multi-park tickets cover more than one park but you need to check carefully that you are buying what you want. The web site is very helpful and you can buy the tickets ahead of time. That way you don't have to make all these decisions at the ticket window in the heat surrounded by anxious kids and adults. AND be very careful to wear the most comfortable shoes you have. You'll be walking miles. In the week we visited we walked over 29 miles by my wife's pedometer.
Disney is simply Disney. I've never found a substitute and I doubt if there is one (not to mention that I wouldn't look for it - LOL). It is always clean, the people are always happy, the messes cleaned up rapidly. The Orlando Disney complex includes several distinct parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood and more. That isn't counting the zillions of resorts. Here's the list: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/siteMap?id=SiteMapPage Every employee has their name tag with their 'home' listed. There are a lot of kids from all over the world working at Disney. (Kids being defined as anyone under 30! LOL) In Epcot at the various national pavilions, of course, they are nationals of that country. We've always liked Epcot but it is the clean, fake world of Disney; not the warty real world which is so much nicer in our opinion.
Magic Kingdom (the children's park) is totally unreal. Many people bring children who are too small thus by early afternoon there are whiny kids all over the place from missing their naps & too much sugar. It's not the kids fault but they sure are annoying. There are strollers everywhere; often double-wide strollers. There is a parade every afternoon, several live shows daily, and everything is Disney, happy and smiley. You see adults, grownup people without kids in their party, having their photo taken with an actor dressed as Beauty (from Beauty and the Beast). Do you hear my inner grouch coming out?
Mickey Mouse is everywhere. Croc's are a cheap plastic shoe that are all the rage right now. They have holes in the top for ventilation and cost $30. At Disney, the holes are in the Mickey Mouse shape and the shoes are $39. The candy is in the shape of Mickey. The balloons are Mickey shaped. The topiary is great; every cartoon character you can imagine. Come to think of it, it may be plastic; I didn't check.
For me the biggest annoyance is built into the nature of theme parks. They want you to stay a while and spend money; you want to see things then leave. There is no motivation for them to reduce waiting for rides so they keep the lines as long as possible while not actually having riots take place. On many rides, you wait in line, are taken into another area and wait in line there, then are taken into another area to wait more and finally get onto the ride. The ride itself is seldom more that 3 or 4 minutes. I think the only things that take longer are the films in the French & Chinese pavilions; those are about 15 minutes. Even in January, the slowest time, there were 20 to 50 minute waits for many things. (In summer there are other entrances to the rides that are opened to keep waits under control. In winter these are closed off to reduce the staffing required and keep those wait times up. See Queuing Theory 101 in your college catalog.)
The park has two ways you can beat the wait but neither really works to your advantage. Some rides have a 'Single Rider' line that you can use if you don't care about being with your party. They have a 3 seat ride. Lots of couples ride it together and don't want to be split up. So a 'single' can be slid in with the couple, raise the usage rate of the ride and go through faster. Of course, the wait in the single line can be manipulated just like the other waits. The other idea is the 'Fast Path'. Here you use your entry ticket to get a ticket for the ride at a predetermined time. You might arrive at 13:00 and get a ticket good for a ride sometime between 14:30 and 15:30. You go do something else for an hour and a half then go get on the ride. Of course, there is a wait in the 'Fast Path' line! And, needless to say, the timeframe you get is determined by the parks desire to keep you around, not the actual number of people wanting to go on the ride.
There is one thing that definitely adds to the need to wait in line and it is something that just isn't handled very well. There are many people who use wheelchairs to get around Disney for a variety of reasons. These people want to ride the rides as well and Disney does everything they can to accommodate them. Usually this includes stopping the ride for the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to get someone into the ride. Thus all two or three hundred people waiting in line stop and wait for this one person to get on the ride. I applaud Disney for enabling these wheelchair bound people to ride. I just wish they would do it in some better manner. For example, every 10th car might be designed for wheelchair bound folks with special easy entry doors. Why stop the ride so we can all watch someone struggle to get a chair into a standard car? Stop it for the 15 seconds it would take to roll the whole chair on. It's just dumb but then again, there is no motivation. The wheelchair bound get directed to the front of the line. They seldom have any wait at all and the park is giving them that perk so who's to complain? Only the politically incorrect who have had 4 kids going crazy in line for the past 20 minutes.
Would I go again. Well, yes, possibly after the sugar high wears off. But we left Orlando in 1988 & that was the last time we visited until just now in 2008. It could be another 20 years....
Have a good one, it's dangerous out there.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Something to eat
I saw this over on Someone Else's Horescope (http://someoneelseshoroscope.blogspot.com/). We love food and the preparation of it so much that I had to answer.
I have such an great diversity of bloggmates visiting here from near and far...
1. would love to know what some of your dinner favorites are...
2. what your favorite take out is...
3. annnnnd, if you were to cook me a meal what it would be!
1. Dinner favorites - if I cook, a stew of some kind, maybe curry. If my wife cooks, perhaps, chicken piccata. Wine, certainly!
2. Don't do much take out - pizza is usually it.
3. Well, something special for an honored guest. What do you like? BBQ steak, salmon, a pork roast; or if you prefer we could do something like a filet mignon, chicken kiev, enchiladas? We are pretty versatile. There would be a vegetable, a salad and probably bread. Desert is not usually on the menu but if you have a sweet tooth, we might add berries & cream. Would that work?
I have such an great diversity of bloggmates visiting here from near and far...
1. would love to know what some of your dinner favorites are...
2. what your favorite take out is...
3. annnnnd, if you were to cook me a meal what it would be!
1. Dinner favorites - if I cook, a stew of some kind, maybe curry. If my wife cooks, perhaps, chicken piccata. Wine, certainly!
2. Don't do much take out - pizza is usually it.
3. Well, something special for an honored guest. What do you like? BBQ steak, salmon, a pork roast; or if you prefer we could do something like a filet mignon, chicken kiev, enchiladas? We are pretty versatile. There would be a vegetable, a salad and probably bread. Desert is not usually on the menu but if you have a sweet tooth, we might add berries & cream. Would that work?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I forgot something cool
There was one thing that was pretty cool technically. We are Florida residents so get a discounted rate ticket that is only good for certain times of the year. Cool. Who the hell would want to attend in the middle of summer anyway if you had a choice!
However I digress. Twenty years ago you got a photo id resident card. NOW you just get this barcoded ticket. However, when you go to the entrance and stick the ticket into the machine, you are instructed to put your finger in a reader. After that your ticket and fingerprint are associated forever in the Dinsey archives. Every time you use the ticket to enter you need to display that same finger to the reader. If it doesn't match, you'll have a hell of a time entering the park. The rides aren't so picky - yet!
Ready for Big Brother? Well, here he comes, ready or not! Take care out there, someone might be watching!
However I digress. Twenty years ago you got a photo id resident card. NOW you just get this barcoded ticket. However, when you go to the entrance and stick the ticket into the machine, you are instructed to put your finger in a reader. After that your ticket and fingerprint are associated forever in the Dinsey archives. Every time you use the ticket to enter you need to display that same finger to the reader. If it doesn't match, you'll have a hell of a time entering the park. The rides aren't so picky - yet!
Ready for Big Brother? Well, here he comes, ready or not! Take care out there, someone might be watching!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Disney World
Just returned from a week at Disney World. No, it wasn't my idea. My wife, born in San Diego, visited Disneyland the first year it was open. She also says she would go there with a girl friend in her teen years and pick up sailors. She retains memories of those days. When we lived in Orlando in the early 80's we had Florida Resident passes giving us access to the parks in 3 or 4 of the unpopular months. This is our first visit in 20 years.
It was really ok. We took our trailer over and stayed in Fort Wilderness campground. It's a huge place. Well run, as you would expect with Disney, but arbitrary and silly, ditto. For example, we were parked in an area where dogs were permitted but there was a sign at the entrance to our area that dogs could not go beyond that area. The result was that there was only one small area in which we could walk the dog. They have a HUGE complex, surely they could cough up another acre for a dog run area. Then there is the $5 a day charge because we had a dog. Then there is the wifi - only near the office and $10 a day. We had the cable tv - unfortunately not normal cable but a Disney special with all their networks over represented and one or two representatives from other networks.
With our passes we could go anywhere we wanted so we hit most of the parks. Animal Kingdom has animals but you don't get to see much of them because the rides don't stop. We did really like the 3D movie It's Tough to be a Bug. 3D has sure come a long way since I last saw it! Disney-MGM was dull but my wife says it had the best roller coaster in the Rock and Roll Coaster. Hit a lot of the old rides in the Magic Kingdom; some were updated, some were dated, a couple were new.
Epcot has always been a favorite of my wife and I. We visited quite a bit when we lived in Orlando and had a teen-aged daughter. We revisited the old places and saw the new ones for the first time. It was ok. The revamp of Spaceship Earth is nothing to get hot & bothered about. The new ride Soarin has huge lines but was a mixed bag for us; we liked it but there were uncomfortable moments. You are supposed to be soaring over California but first of all, the photos are taken from a helicopter or small plane. They jump from place to place without warning so a scene going over rafters on a river is followed by having a golf ball hit at you which is followed by going over a high, snowy ridge with a big dropoff on the other side. Also you are up in the air, only 5 or 6 feet, but they tip you forward and backwards in your chair. Uncomfortable.
The place is horrendously expensive. Prices were generally twice what one might expect elsewhere and, unfortunately, the quality was often not there. Spending $15 for pasta with shrimp is a lot here in Florida. When the sauce comes from a can and the shrimp are old; there just isn't much excuse for that; even Chili's or TGI Friday would do better.
So, even with all this whining, we had a great time. Wifey got to see or ride whatever she wanted. I got to check out whatever I wanted. Kid came over for a day and a half & checked out what she wanted. We came home without a single souvenir between us. It could be a record. Photos, well maybe, if I can find anything worth posting.
Be careful out there!
It was really ok. We took our trailer over and stayed in Fort Wilderness campground. It's a huge place. Well run, as you would expect with Disney, but arbitrary and silly, ditto. For example, we were parked in an area where dogs were permitted but there was a sign at the entrance to our area that dogs could not go beyond that area. The result was that there was only one small area in which we could walk the dog. They have a HUGE complex, surely they could cough up another acre for a dog run area. Then there is the $5 a day charge because we had a dog. Then there is the wifi - only near the office and $10 a day. We had the cable tv - unfortunately not normal cable but a Disney special with all their networks over represented and one or two representatives from other networks.
With our passes we could go anywhere we wanted so we hit most of the parks. Animal Kingdom has animals but you don't get to see much of them because the rides don't stop. We did really like the 3D movie It's Tough to be a Bug. 3D has sure come a long way since I last saw it! Disney-MGM was dull but my wife says it had the best roller coaster in the Rock and Roll Coaster. Hit a lot of the old rides in the Magic Kingdom; some were updated, some were dated, a couple were new.
Epcot has always been a favorite of my wife and I. We visited quite a bit when we lived in Orlando and had a teen-aged daughter. We revisited the old places and saw the new ones for the first time. It was ok. The revamp of Spaceship Earth is nothing to get hot & bothered about. The new ride Soarin has huge lines but was a mixed bag for us; we liked it but there were uncomfortable moments. You are supposed to be soaring over California but first of all, the photos are taken from a helicopter or small plane. They jump from place to place without warning so a scene going over rafters on a river is followed by having a golf ball hit at you which is followed by going over a high, snowy ridge with a big dropoff on the other side. Also you are up in the air, only 5 or 6 feet, but they tip you forward and backwards in your chair. Uncomfortable.
The place is horrendously expensive. Prices were generally twice what one might expect elsewhere and, unfortunately, the quality was often not there. Spending $15 for pasta with shrimp is a lot here in Florida. When the sauce comes from a can and the shrimp are old; there just isn't much excuse for that; even Chili's or TGI Friday would do better.
So, even with all this whining, we had a great time. Wifey got to see or ride whatever she wanted. I got to check out whatever I wanted. Kid came over for a day and a half & checked out what she wanted. We came home without a single souvenir between us. It could be a record. Photos, well maybe, if I can find anything worth posting.
Be careful out there!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Love this guy!
Someone introduced me to this guy. He may or may not be a great ventriloquist, but he's got a great dummy! He's just funny and that makes him less powerful AND the people who he represents. The dummy is Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskT6YfVB6E
Yes, Achmed wouldn't be singing Xmas carols but... it's humor folks!
Take care, it's dangerous out there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskT6YfVB6E
Yes, Achmed wouldn't be singing Xmas carols but... it's humor folks!
Take care, it's dangerous out there!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Finally!
I've been wanting to put a photo on my blog. Tried and tried but it wouldn't take it. FINALLY I used the old laptop pc rather than the iMac. Of course, that worked in a second. Bah, humbug!
Sorry for the lousy quality of the photo. It is about 10 years old too; I'm just a little grayer. We were in Nice, France and I was enjoying a glass of wine on the balcony. Well, now that I think about things, it was 1999; our 15th anniversary. Now that I know another of Blogger's secrets, I may try to find a better photo.
Once again, have a Great 08!
Sorry for the lousy quality of the photo. It is about 10 years old too; I'm just a little grayer. We were in Nice, France and I was enjoying a glass of wine on the balcony. Well, now that I think about things, it was 1999; our 15th anniversary. Now that I know another of Blogger's secrets, I may try to find a better photo.
Once again, have a Great 08!
More questions & answers
Rant for the day: Bah! It's almost 80 degrees and over 80% humidity today. What happened to winter?
These came from a blog entitled becomingariver. I'm not sure I'm on the same page as this lady but I check out her blog regularly anyway! Did these last night but it was too late to post. Have a Happy New Year, y'all!
+++++++++++++++++++++
Never in my life have I - hurt myself intentionally.
When I am nervous - I perspire.
The last song I listened to was - theme from "Chocolate"
My hair is - going away.
When I was four - I lived in Ohio and met John
Last Christmas - was pretty good - MIL died and I certainly did not miss her.
I should be - in bed.
When I look down I see - the floor I need to fix.
The happiest recent event was - selling an old table.
By this time, next year - I hope to be living on a boat.
My current distress is - disposing of a lifetimes accumulation of "stuff".
I have a hard time understanding - religion; any religion.
If I won an award, the first person I would tell is - my wife.
I want to buy a - boat.
I plan on visiting - Washington, DC
The world could do without - religion.
The most recent thing I bought myself is - does champagne for New Year's count? If not, I don't remember.
The most recent thing that someone else bought for me was - Xmas gifts - shirts, books and scotch.
My middle name is - Chambers - my paternal grandmother's maiden name. I was WAY to embarrassed by it for years. Funny story: I was using my middle name as my password. A friend needed to use my work computer one night & had been told my password but couldn't remember it. Finally he called about 02:00 - he said he tried every possible spelling of "Marilyn" but couldn't figure it out. After I picked myself up off the floor, I managed to choke out the key phrase. (For those of you of tender years, Marilyn Chambers was a famous porn star back in the 70's.)
In the morning I - need to get back into my exercise program.
Last night I was so tired I - slept part of the night in my recliner.
There is this guy I know who - is severely depressed because he recently had to close his business.
If I were an animal - I'd like to be pretty high on the old food chain!
A better name for me would be - éminence grise.
Tomorrow, I am - hoping for a good, productive day.
Tonight, I am - emailing, blogging & on my third (& last) scotch.
These came from a blog entitled becomingariver. I'm not sure I'm on the same page as this lady but I check out her blog regularly anyway! Did these last night but it was too late to post. Have a Happy New Year, y'all!
+++++++++++++++++++++
Never in my life have I - hurt myself intentionally.
When I am nervous - I perspire.
The last song I listened to was - theme from "Chocolate"
My hair is - going away.
When I was four - I lived in Ohio and met John
Last Christmas - was pretty good - MIL died and I certainly did not miss her.
I should be - in bed.
When I look down I see - the floor I need to fix.
The happiest recent event was - selling an old table.
By this time, next year - I hope to be living on a boat.
My current distress is - disposing of a lifetimes accumulation of "stuff".
I have a hard time understanding - religion; any religion.
If I won an award, the first person I would tell is - my wife.
I want to buy a - boat.
I plan on visiting - Washington, DC
The world could do without - religion.
The most recent thing I bought myself is - does champagne for New Year's count? If not, I don't remember.
The most recent thing that someone else bought for me was - Xmas gifts - shirts, books and scotch.
My middle name is - Chambers - my paternal grandmother's maiden name. I was WAY to embarrassed by it for years. Funny story: I was using my middle name as my password. A friend needed to use my work computer one night & had been told my password but couldn't remember it. Finally he called about 02:00 - he said he tried every possible spelling of "Marilyn" but couldn't figure it out. After I picked myself up off the floor, I managed to choke out the key phrase. (For those of you of tender years, Marilyn Chambers was a famous porn star back in the 70's.)
In the morning I - need to get back into my exercise program.
Last night I was so tired I - slept part of the night in my recliner.
There is this guy I know who - is severely depressed because he recently had to close his business.
If I were an animal - I'd like to be pretty high on the old food chain!
A better name for me would be - éminence grise.
Tomorrow, I am - hoping for a good, productive day.
Tonight, I am - emailing, blogging & on my third (& last) scotch.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Questions - and answers
Checking out HLiza's blog she had this question series.
1. I watched a TV programme about plastic surgery recently.
If money is not an issue, would you do it? No; it's not like I scare people and I'm certainly not going to be a movie star!
If yes, which part of your body you'll like to change?
2. I find a lot of women here complaining that their husbands can't stand babies crying and will become crazy if the babies don't stop. What about your spouse? If you're single, do you think you can take it if you have a baby one day? My wife had children before we married so I missed out on the crying baby years. It would be tough to take but we keep reproducing so most people can manage it. Guess I could to.
3. Do you remember how you came to know about me (my blog)? Or did I appear in your blog comments section first? I think I saw you comment on Curate's Egg.
4. Tell me one house chore that you hate the most but have to do it repeatedly. Vacuuming - they aren't tall enough for men to use comfortably.
5. Name one foreign food you'll like to try one day. Well, as long as I can taste it in the country where it originated; turkish coffee in Turkey; jerk chicken in Jamaica; the different varieties of Chinese cuisine; the list is endless!
And just for fun, here' s a photo of someone else in his Xmas present. Unfortunately it didn't fit very well so I've returned it and am looking for one that is longer. Be careful out there.
1. I watched a TV programme about plastic surgery recently.
If money is not an issue, would you do it? No; it's not like I scare people and I'm certainly not going to be a movie star!
If yes, which part of your body you'll like to change?
2. I find a lot of women here complaining that their husbands can't stand babies crying and will become crazy if the babies don't stop. What about your spouse? If you're single, do you think you can take it if you have a baby one day? My wife had children before we married so I missed out on the crying baby years. It would be tough to take but we keep reproducing so most people can manage it. Guess I could to.
3. Do you remember how you came to know about me (my blog)? Or did I appear in your blog comments section first? I think I saw you comment on Curate's Egg.
4. Tell me one house chore that you hate the most but have to do it repeatedly. Vacuuming - they aren't tall enough for men to use comfortably.
5. Name one foreign food you'll like to try one day. Well, as long as I can taste it in the country where it originated; turkish coffee in Turkey; jerk chicken in Jamaica; the different varieties of Chinese cuisine; the list is endless!
And just for fun, here' s a photo of someone else in his Xmas present. Unfortunately it didn't fit very well so I've returned it and am looking for one that is longer. Be careful out there.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Made it!
The Xmas production is over! Everyone ate too much but thankfully didn't drink too much so we had a pretty good time. Presents were exchanged and everyone was polite about what they received. Even the grouch is happy.
This is the day when photos taken yesterday must be exchanged. I did a really lousy job and only had one that I'd share with anyone at all! It's odd. I must need to practice taking more photos in the house because the ones I do take are not turning out well at all. I've got a Canon Powershot S2 IS. It's a wonderful camera but somewhat complicated. Perhaps I've got some setting screwed up. Back to the camera book!
Here's someone with her Xmas present - getting ready for boating! Have a lovely day.
This is the day when photos taken yesterday must be exchanged. I did a really lousy job and only had one that I'd share with anyone at all! It's odd. I must need to practice taking more photos in the house because the ones I do take are not turning out well at all. I've got a Canon Powershot S2 IS. It's a wonderful camera but somewhat complicated. Perhaps I've got some setting screwed up. Back to the camera book!
Here's someone with her Xmas present - getting ready for boating! Have a lovely day.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Grouch
I've just re-read my last post and would like to apologize for being such a grouch. It sounds to me like something the Grinch would write. Anyway, sorry!
I am ready for the big day. I have been making beef jerky for several years and give it as gifts at Xmas. Everyone seems to like it; at least it disappears quickly! It's really easy to make, just a pain in the ass getting enough of it made to give. It took me about three weeks to get it all made. I also have purchased my wife's special present. She seems unable to watch me fix anything without helping so a few years ago I started buying her a tool every year for Xmas. This year it is a cordless electric screwdriver to replace one that she's worn out. As long as it is a good quality tool, she's happy.
The holiday is now just around the corner. I'll go out one more time this afternoon then we'll be busy hosting Xmas until the 26th. I usually treat myself to listening to Beethoven's Ninth at Xmas. The vocal portion is just so amazingly beautiful. that should help my mood!
New Years is one of my favorite holidays. First Xmas is over! But it is also a time to plan for the new year and to thing again about how fortunate we are. Three things have happened just lately to remind me of my own good fortune.
We bought a new table for our dining nook. The neighbor had a furniture store but has gone out of business. They were left with odds & ends; this one fits the space nicely making it look much larger than the old table. I was planning on renting one before putting the house on the market but this is much better and we are doing the neighbor a good turn helping him to get rid of his junk. Closing out your business has to be really tough on a person.
Sending out Xmas cards sometimes gets unexpected results. Last night my cousin's wife called to let us know that they aren't doing cards this year because my cousin had a defibrillator installed on Friday. He's had a heart attack and several bypass operations so things aren't going all that well for him. Hopefully this will help keep him going a while longer.
Finally today I read in http://btlifes2short.blogspot.com/ about the sudden death of a fellow cruiser. The guy just died in his sleep. One day he was traveling in his boat, thinking of driving home to his wife and for him, there was no next day. It is an amazing thought and one that makes me wish to tidy up my life. Here's to cleaning up our acts.
Be careful out there; it's crazy season.
I am ready for the big day. I have been making beef jerky for several years and give it as gifts at Xmas. Everyone seems to like it; at least it disappears quickly! It's really easy to make, just a pain in the ass getting enough of it made to give. It took me about three weeks to get it all made. I also have purchased my wife's special present. She seems unable to watch me fix anything without helping so a few years ago I started buying her a tool every year for Xmas. This year it is a cordless electric screwdriver to replace one that she's worn out. As long as it is a good quality tool, she's happy.
The holiday is now just around the corner. I'll go out one more time this afternoon then we'll be busy hosting Xmas until the 26th. I usually treat myself to listening to Beethoven's Ninth at Xmas. The vocal portion is just so amazingly beautiful. that should help my mood!
New Years is one of my favorite holidays. First Xmas is over! But it is also a time to plan for the new year and to thing again about how fortunate we are. Three things have happened just lately to remind me of my own good fortune.
We bought a new table for our dining nook. The neighbor had a furniture store but has gone out of business. They were left with odds & ends; this one fits the space nicely making it look much larger than the old table. I was planning on renting one before putting the house on the market but this is much better and we are doing the neighbor a good turn helping him to get rid of his junk. Closing out your business has to be really tough on a person.
Sending out Xmas cards sometimes gets unexpected results. Last night my cousin's wife called to let us know that they aren't doing cards this year because my cousin had a defibrillator installed on Friday. He's had a heart attack and several bypass operations so things aren't going all that well for him. Hopefully this will help keep him going a while longer.
Finally today I read in http://btlifes2short.blogspot.com/ about the sudden death of a fellow cruiser. The guy just died in his sleep. One day he was traveling in his boat, thinking of driving home to his wife and for him, there was no next day. It is an amazing thought and one that makes me wish to tidy up my life. Here's to cleaning up our acts.
Be careful out there; it's crazy season.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Xmas crap
Oh boy, am I ever tired of Christmas. It doesn't bother me but it drives my wife crazy. And, as anyone married know, if one partner starts acting crazy the other has quite a job straightening things out.
Let me start by saying that neither of us are Christian though we were both raised in traditional Christian households. It is also important that our children are both grown. So the holiday is about being around family and dreaming of abstract things like "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men". It's kind of an extended Thanksgiving where we buy each other basically meaningless gifts, listen to Christmas music and watch football.
For some reason, this basically meanless holiday makes my wife crazy. We have a little tree that we dress with lights and baubles. We have purchased all the gifts that people told us they wanted. All we have to do in the next week is buy a ham, a few minor foodstuffs and a couple of bottles of wine. We are retired! We literally have 6 days to do that. Maybe that's why she's crazy; too much time to think. I don't know!
At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the 26th. Happy Holidays everyone!
One final thought: to me any decent moral philosophy is much like any other. There is no reason we should require any god to live morally.
Let me start by saying that neither of us are Christian though we were both raised in traditional Christian households. It is also important that our children are both grown. So the holiday is about being around family and dreaming of abstract things like "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men". It's kind of an extended Thanksgiving where we buy each other basically meaningless gifts, listen to Christmas music and watch football.
For some reason, this basically meanless holiday makes my wife crazy. We have a little tree that we dress with lights and baubles. We have purchased all the gifts that people told us they wanted. All we have to do in the next week is buy a ham, a few minor foodstuffs and a couple of bottles of wine. We are retired! We literally have 6 days to do that. Maybe that's why she's crazy; too much time to think. I don't know!
At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the 26th. Happy Holidays everyone!
One final thought: to me any decent moral philosophy is much like any other. There is no reason we should require any god to live morally.
History - anybody?
"Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." President F. D. Roosevelt
It's almost 7 pm here in Florida and I haven't heard a single reference to the historical significance of this day. I'm not trying to vilify the Japanese, hell, I admire their culture; but with all the phony patriotism that we hear these days I am surprised that I haven't heard about it. The attack was a surprise. There was a war in Europe and we were "loaning" equipment to Britain but it was far away and none of our business. Or so we thought. Reality, in the form of Japanese aircraft, taught us that we shouldn't avoid unpleasant thoughts. Warmongers in this country have used this argument ever since. You can hear in between the lines of every speech from President Bush.
The phony patriotism we have in this country is enough to make a cat barf. I'm one of those people who served in the armed forces of the United States some years ago. I didn't do anything wonderful; indeed, I did very little at all (more than the President but ...). Unfortunately, very few people these days have actually performed any small service for our country. Fewer still believe that "my country right or wrong" is stupid beyond belief. But turn on the radio today and you hear the national anthem played regularly just to remind us of the wonderfulness of our country. The DJ tells us to be proud. The DJ who in the next moment will be telling you how wonderful some restaurant is; the one that just go a citation for uncleanliness! What sheep we all are. Good night; or should I just say "Baaaaaa".
BTW A belated Happy Hanukkah to those of the Jewish faith.
It's almost 7 pm here in Florida and I haven't heard a single reference to the historical significance of this day. I'm not trying to vilify the Japanese, hell, I admire their culture; but with all the phony patriotism that we hear these days I am surprised that I haven't heard about it. The attack was a surprise. There was a war in Europe and we were "loaning" equipment to Britain but it was far away and none of our business. Or so we thought. Reality, in the form of Japanese aircraft, taught us that we shouldn't avoid unpleasant thoughts. Warmongers in this country have used this argument ever since. You can hear in between the lines of every speech from President Bush.
The phony patriotism we have in this country is enough to make a cat barf. I'm one of those people who served in the armed forces of the United States some years ago. I didn't do anything wonderful; indeed, I did very little at all (more than the President but ...). Unfortunately, very few people these days have actually performed any small service for our country. Fewer still believe that "my country right or wrong" is stupid beyond belief. But turn on the radio today and you hear the national anthem played regularly just to remind us of the wonderfulness of our country. The DJ tells us to be proud. The DJ who in the next moment will be telling you how wonderful some restaurant is; the one that just go a citation for uncleanliness! What sheep we all are. Good night; or should I just say "Baaaaaa".
BTW A belated Happy Hanukkah to those of the Jewish faith.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
More Bionic Man.....
It's official. Yesterday at approximately 14:00 local time I got my second bionic part; another lens implant. As soon as I got the first it started being apparent that I really did need to have the other eye done. I could see reasonably well out of the new lens in my right eye but the left was going downhill fast. So let's spend another $2300 worth of the insurance company's money!
It's been 24 hours so I'm just hanging around getting eye drops every 4 hours. The new lens does make quite a difference though; in a couple of weeks it should be great. I have distance vision in both eyes so I'll be using glasses for the rest of my life but what the heck. I've been needing them anyway.
My doctor is kind of an interesting guy. He, his father and his sister own the "Ironman" franchise. Every time you see an Ironman race or watch or shoe; they are getting some tiny part of it. He is a competitor himself; very physically fit but taller than you might imagine. It's an interesting sideline for opthomologists (his father is one as well).
I see that The Grumpy Old Bookman is going to give up on his blog for a while. (http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com) I'm going to miss reading it but to paraphrase him, life has more important things in it than blogging. I am very thankful for all the work that some people do to keep us lurkers happy. Thanks to you all.
As always, take care out there!
It's been 24 hours so I'm just hanging around getting eye drops every 4 hours. The new lens does make quite a difference though; in a couple of weeks it should be great. I have distance vision in both eyes so I'll be using glasses for the rest of my life but what the heck. I've been needing them anyway.
My doctor is kind of an interesting guy. He, his father and his sister own the "Ironman" franchise. Every time you see an Ironman race or watch or shoe; they are getting some tiny part of it. He is a competitor himself; very physically fit but taller than you might imagine. It's an interesting sideline for opthomologists (his father is one as well).
I see that The Grumpy Old Bookman is going to give up on his blog for a while. (http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com) I'm going to miss reading it but to paraphrase him, life has more important things in it than blogging. I am very thankful for all the work that some people do to keep us lurkers happy. Thanks to you all.
As always, take care out there!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
It's OVER!
We've managed to get through another Thanksgiving without major injury. My wife managed to burn herself a bit on a hot pan but otherwise all is cool. A few years ago she did a really nice job that required ice for the rest of the day; today was a nothing. We had four different appetizers, turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, peas & onions, salad, rolls & two kinds of pie. Wine, of course, and coffee with the pie. Tough life!
Our extended family did not bring their extra person but our daughter did bring an unexpected friend so we were six for dinner. A nice number and no one was too objectionable at the table. We managed to decimate an 18 lb turkey; I doubt if we have a pound of leftover turkey; of course we sent a few pounds off with the visitors. They all had things to do & people to see so they were gone by 17:00. We were able to make our Thanksgiving family calls to the West Coast family members before they had eaten. That was nice.
The woman our daughter brought along is married but her husband went to spend the holiday with his family and she "opt'ed out". We aren't sure what that means but it doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship. Or perhaps it is the most healthy; I've just never experienced that kind of health. Wouldn't that be interesting. Anyway, she is one of those women who bath in scent. I guess it would help you find her if a smoke filled bar but it would seem a private home isn't her primary hunting ground. She was also wearing a pretty low cut top and knee high boots with a 3 or 4 inch heel. She certainly wasn't dressed for a family dinner.
After dinner our next door neighbors came over for a drink. We sat outside as dusk turned to dark and enjoyed talking with our friends and admiring the full moon. Altogether a wonderful day. No one was a complete jerk, nothing was spoiled, no one will have lost weight! We really enjoy Thanksgiving; and really do enjoy hosting it but it is over! Peace be with you all.
Our extended family did not bring their extra person but our daughter did bring an unexpected friend so we were six for dinner. A nice number and no one was too objectionable at the table. We managed to decimate an 18 lb turkey; I doubt if we have a pound of leftover turkey; of course we sent a few pounds off with the visitors. They all had things to do & people to see so they were gone by 17:00. We were able to make our Thanksgiving family calls to the West Coast family members before they had eaten. That was nice.
The woman our daughter brought along is married but her husband went to spend the holiday with his family and she "opt'ed out". We aren't sure what that means but it doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship. Or perhaps it is the most healthy; I've just never experienced that kind of health. Wouldn't that be interesting. Anyway, she is one of those women who bath in scent. I guess it would help you find her if a smoke filled bar but it would seem a private home isn't her primary hunting ground. She was also wearing a pretty low cut top and knee high boots with a 3 or 4 inch heel. She certainly wasn't dressed for a family dinner.
After dinner our next door neighbors came over for a drink. We sat outside as dusk turned to dark and enjoyed talking with our friends and admiring the full moon. Altogether a wonderful day. No one was a complete jerk, nothing was spoiled, no one will have lost weight! We really enjoy Thanksgiving; and really do enjoy hosting it but it is over! Peace be with you all.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving Week Crazy
It is the week when we in the US celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a nice time. You don't have to buy gifts, you don't have to think about Christianity, all you have to do is enjoy. Well, unless you are hosting a party! Naturally, we like to have a few folks join us for Thanksgiving; only 5 or 6 though so it really isn't a big deal. We look forward to it. So for those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! And for those outside the US, have a nice Thursday.
It never hurts one to consider his or her life and to think about how fortunate we are. My wife and I both know we are way beyond fortunate. We have each other. We have only minor ailments. We have enough money, good friends, even moderately good family! All we really wish for is "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men".
Speaking of peace, when the hell are we going to get our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan? What a bunch of incompetent jerks we have running this country. I thought it was embarrassing when President Clinton had to get blow jobs from an intern in his office. NOW we are invading other sovereign nations, that's really embarrassing not to mention just plain wrong. I didn't mind Afghanistan at first. There was supposed to be someone there who was directing terrorist activities towards us and other countries. But if you can't find the guy in 6 years maybe you need to re-think things. The really frightening thing is: Who knows what the next jerk we elect as President will find to do!
Speaking of possible Presidents, I saw this the other day.
I think there are a lot of folks who feel this way about Mrs. Clinton. She is such a lying piece of @*#$ - unfortunately all the other politicians are pretty much the same. Like Diogenes, I am looking for an honest man or woman.
On a brighter note, here's a bit of advice concerning family planning. Take care out there!
It never hurts one to consider his or her life and to think about how fortunate we are. My wife and I both know we are way beyond fortunate. We have each other. We have only minor ailments. We have enough money, good friends, even moderately good family! All we really wish for is "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men".
Speaking of peace, when the hell are we going to get our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan? What a bunch of incompetent jerks we have running this country. I thought it was embarrassing when President Clinton had to get blow jobs from an intern in his office. NOW we are invading other sovereign nations, that's really embarrassing not to mention just plain wrong. I didn't mind Afghanistan at first. There was supposed to be someone there who was directing terrorist activities towards us and other countries. But if you can't find the guy in 6 years maybe you need to re-think things. The really frightening thing is: Who knows what the next jerk we elect as President will find to do!
Speaking of possible Presidents, I saw this the other day.
I think there are a lot of folks who feel this way about Mrs. Clinton. She is such a lying piece of @*#$ - unfortunately all the other politicians are pretty much the same. Like Diogenes, I am looking for an honest man or woman.
On a brighter note, here's a bit of advice concerning family planning. Take care out there!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bionic Man - Part 2
Hmmmm. blogger just did something to my post so I hope it isn't too screwed up. However.....
Yesterday I got the measurements done to have my second cataract operation. In two weeks I'll have my second bionic part. Don't it sound great. Jeez, next I'll be blogging about my kids & grandkids (none yet, thank you!). Anyway, I'll try to keep relatively quiet about the details.
Last night I went to a meeting of the local chapter of AAII - the American Assn. of Independent Investors. Basically it's just a company that offers a forum for discussing how people invest. They have a magazine, website (www.aaii.com amazingly enough) & local groups. This was the monthly meeting which consists exclusively of a guest speaker. This guy was a chartist. He looks at a chart of what is happening with a stock and thinks he can tell what will happen to the stock based on what has already occured. Do I buy it? Well, certainly he had interesting examples and he claims he is simply interpreting what the marked is doing. That may be so but it seems to me that the interpretation is pretty open to discussion. It was an interesting presentation and I'm probably going to email the guy a few questions. (There is no discussion period!)
In other financial news here's what one of my advisory newsletters has to say about how Wall Street does business. This is in regard to all the major investment houses BUT ONE losing money on the sub-prime lending fiasco. Skip it if it's boring but do take care.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
one of Wall Street's "paper mills" has remained
strangely untouched by the mortgage crisis – Goldman
Sachs. By now, you must be familiar with our argument:
Like a rubber ducky floating in a toilet, Goldman's
stock must soon spiral down into the cesspool of the
mortgage debacle.
What might explain Goldman's curious immunity from a
big mortgage-related charge against its book value?
We've learned the firm is setting aside more than $16
billion for this year's bonus pool. But... how big
would the bonus pool be if Goldman were to take a big
($5 billion to $10 billion) write-off before the end
of the year? We don't know exactly, but we would
venture to guess: several billion dollars less.
Reuters reports that if Goldman doesn't take a big
loss on its mortgages, Blankfein will get a $75
million bonus this year, up $20 million from last
year. Goldman's co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon
Winkelried, will get $70 million each. It's hard to
believe shareholders would agree to pay one president
$70 million... and Goldman's got two of 'em!
Shareholders are about to get what they deserve...
Now that we've identified Goldman's motive for
masking the size of its mortgage losses, we've been
searching for the weapon. How has Goldman hidden its
losses, we wonder? We've been playing a game of Wall
Street Clue. "It was Colonel Mustard... in the
library... with the wrench..." No, it was CEO Lloyd
Blankfein, in the boardroom, with illiquid bonds that
can't be priced.
An entire category of financial assets (called "Level
3 assets") are so illiquid they can't be accurately
priced. To make up for the lack of a true market for
these assets – which include certain kinds of
securitized mortgages – Wall Street uses computer
models. (Reminder: When your broker starts talking
about a computer model, grab your wallet.) Or, in
other words, these big banks are allowed to "pick a
number" for the value of these Level 3 assets. Guess
which big Wall Street bank has the largest pile of
Level 3 assets as a percentage of its equity? That's
right, Goldman Sachs.
Yesterday I got the measurements done to have my second cataract operation. In two weeks I'll have my second bionic part. Don't it sound great. Jeez, next I'll be blogging about my kids & grandkids (none yet, thank you!). Anyway, I'll try to keep relatively quiet about the details.
Last night I went to a meeting of the local chapter of AAII - the American Assn. of Independent Investors. Basically it's just a company that offers a forum for discussing how people invest. They have a magazine, website (www.aaii.com amazingly enough) & local groups. This was the monthly meeting which consists exclusively of a guest speaker. This guy was a chartist. He looks at a chart of what is happening with a stock and thinks he can tell what will happen to the stock based on what has already occured. Do I buy it? Well, certainly he had interesting examples and he claims he is simply interpreting what the marked is doing. That may be so but it seems to me that the interpretation is pretty open to discussion. It was an interesting presentation and I'm probably going to email the guy a few questions. (There is no discussion period!)
In other financial news here's what one of my advisory newsletters has to say about how Wall Street does business. This is in regard to all the major investment houses BUT ONE losing money on the sub-prime lending fiasco. Skip it if it's boring but do take care.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
one of Wall Street's "paper mills" has remained
strangely untouched by the mortgage crisis – Goldman
Sachs. By now, you must be familiar with our argument:
Like a rubber ducky floating in a toilet, Goldman's
stock must soon spiral down into the cesspool of the
mortgage debacle.
What might explain Goldman's curious immunity from a
big mortgage-related charge against its book value?
We've learned the firm is setting aside more than $16
billion for this year's bonus pool. But... how big
would the bonus pool be if Goldman were to take a big
($5 billion to $10 billion) write-off before the end
of the year? We don't know exactly, but we would
venture to guess: several billion dollars less.
Reuters reports that if Goldman doesn't take a big
loss on its mortgages, Blankfein will get a $75
million bonus this year, up $20 million from last
year. Goldman's co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon
Winkelried, will get $70 million each. It's hard to
believe shareholders would agree to pay one president
$70 million... and Goldman's got two of 'em!
Shareholders are about to get what they deserve...
Now that we've identified Goldman's motive for
masking the size of its mortgage losses, we've been
searching for the weapon. How has Goldman hidden its
losses, we wonder? We've been playing a game of Wall
Street Clue. "It was Colonel Mustard... in the
library... with the wrench..." No, it was CEO Lloyd
Blankfein, in the boardroom, with illiquid bonds that
can't be priced.
An entire category of financial assets (called "Level
3 assets") are so illiquid they can't be accurately
priced. To make up for the lack of a true market for
these assets – which include certain kinds of
securitized mortgages – Wall Street uses computer
models. (Reminder: When your broker starts talking
about a computer model, grab your wallet.) Or, in
other words, these big banks are allowed to "pick a
number" for the value of these Level 3 assets. Guess
which big Wall Street bank has the largest pile of
Level 3 assets as a percentage of its equity? That's
right, Goldman Sachs.
Monday, November 05, 2007
More Halloween and...
More news about our Halloween. We don't get a lot of kids in our neighborhood. For one thing we are on a busy street & unless supervised I doubt if people want their kids walking around here. At any rate, the adults from several houses all got together in our driveway and created a little food line for the kids. We all had a glass of wine or a beer and had a great time. The kids would come up & get 4 houses at one stop. We could all admire the outfits, etc. and got to talk about other stuff where there were no kids. It was really fun. I'm hoping we can make it an annual event.
Florida is finally becoming livable. Today it's mid-70's (23 or 24 I suppose to the rest of the world) and the humidity is down to under 40%. It's great. We have the house open finally.
Here's a meme I found over on Lee's blog "A Curates Egg" aka http://coddledegg.blogspot.com/ He didn't send it to my; he's much too respectful of other people's time but I like doing them ocassionally. Sometimes they help me think about things. Take care!
++++++++++++++++
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Watched MXC - a crazy Japanese show where people try a sort of obstacle course and a often get dunked in water. In this country, they do a voice-over with 2 American guys who are really rude sometimes.
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Sleeping
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Showering.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
My mother-in-law died. We cleaned up and sold the duplex we bought for her 23 years ago - becoming liable for a huge tax bill. Trip to the midwest to a family reunion with my cousins, many of whom I had never met. Moved away from waterbeds for the first time in many, many years.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
“Thank you.”
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Coffee, decaf, water, orange juice, soup (does that count?).
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Don't have one. Don't need it, bald is beautiful! LOL
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Beef to make chili yesterday.
9.Where were you last night?
Home.
10. What colour is your front door?
Dark gray.
11. Where do you keep your change?
Top of the dresser.
12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny, cooler (mid-70's F or maybe 23 C).
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavour?
Some chocolate-coffee mix.
14. What excites you?
I'm easily excited - liars, stupid people, almost anything political, the economy, the dollar - I could keep on for a long while. Erotically excited? I'm dull - boobs, legs, hair; the usual guy stuff.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No. Don't want anyone else to either.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Way! I'm 59.
17. Do you talk a lot?
No.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
I have no idea what the O.C. is.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes but no one I CALL Steven.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Can't spell for s*it but otherwise, no.
21. Are you a jealous person?
I can be but you've gotta be pushing my buttons.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Don't have one.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kelly.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Wife
25. What does the last text message you received say?
Don't text message.
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No. Don’t use straws and don't have a farm.
7. Do you have curly hair?
Some places.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
No idea. It's under discussion. Perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway; perhaps Texas, Nevada & the west in general.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Our daughter.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Soup - see above.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Well, my wife would be really surprised! If she were to die, probably not.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Don't know that I've seen one. Saw parts of "How to Marry a Millionaire" on tv the other day.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Yes. (Of course, but no extra-marital entanglements if that is what you mean.)
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Yesterday.
35. Are you currently depressed?
No.
36. Did you cry today?
No.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I'm a Nitwit!
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey…
No.
Florida is finally becoming livable. Today it's mid-70's (23 or 24 I suppose to the rest of the world) and the humidity is down to under 40%. It's great. We have the house open finally.
Here's a meme I found over on Lee's blog "A Curates Egg" aka http://coddledegg.blogspot.com/ He didn't send it to my; he's much too respectful of other people's time but I like doing them ocassionally. Sometimes they help me think about things. Take care!
++++++++++++++++
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Watched MXC - a crazy Japanese show where people try a sort of obstacle course and a often get dunked in water. In this country, they do a voice-over with 2 American guys who are really rude sometimes.
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Sleeping
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Showering.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
My mother-in-law died. We cleaned up and sold the duplex we bought for her 23 years ago - becoming liable for a huge tax bill. Trip to the midwest to a family reunion with my cousins, many of whom I had never met. Moved away from waterbeds for the first time in many, many years.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
“Thank you.”
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Coffee, decaf, water, orange juice, soup (does that count?).
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Don't have one. Don't need it, bald is beautiful! LOL
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Beef to make chili yesterday.
9.Where were you last night?
Home.
10. What colour is your front door?
Dark gray.
11. Where do you keep your change?
Top of the dresser.
12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny, cooler (mid-70's F or maybe 23 C).
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavour?
Some chocolate-coffee mix.
14. What excites you?
I'm easily excited - liars, stupid people, almost anything political, the economy, the dollar - I could keep on for a long while. Erotically excited? I'm dull - boobs, legs, hair; the usual guy stuff.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No. Don't want anyone else to either.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Way! I'm 59.
17. Do you talk a lot?
No.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
I have no idea what the O.C. is.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes but no one I CALL Steven.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Can't spell for s*it but otherwise, no.
21. Are you a jealous person?
I can be but you've gotta be pushing my buttons.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Don't have one.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kelly.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Wife
25. What does the last text message you received say?
Don't text message.
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No. Don’t use straws and don't have a farm.
7. Do you have curly hair?
Some places.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
No idea. It's under discussion. Perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway; perhaps Texas, Nevada & the west in general.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Our daughter.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Soup - see above.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Well, my wife would be really surprised! If she were to die, probably not.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Don't know that I've seen one. Saw parts of "How to Marry a Millionaire" on tv the other day.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Yes. (Of course, but no extra-marital entanglements if that is what you mean.)
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Yesterday.
35. Are you currently depressed?
No.
36. Did you cry today?
No.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I'm a Nitwit!
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey…
No.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Still surviving!
The neighbor had their annual Halloween party on Saturday night. Wifey and I had a little party of our own earlier in the day and weren't feeling like drinking a lot or even being up late so we had to say good night about 21:30. Turns out that was a really GOOD thing since I've heard that they got rid of the last guests about 02:30. Boy, I can't even imagine how awful I'd feel if I'd stayed drinking until then. It makes me ill just thinking about it.
How about a totally different subject? SEX. You may note that I don't talk about sex much here. I'm pretty shy in person as well but I had the weirdest thing happen a few days ago and I just have to talk about it. We'd had a few drinks that day as well (3 or 4 maybe). And we decided that going in to bed and making love would be a good thing. We'd done this sort of thing before, of course, and were pretty sure that neither of us would cum after that much alcohol but wanted the closeness. (It's really great to feel that way about someone I've been with for over 25 years. It didn't last 10 with my first wife.) Anyway, we go in to bed and do our thing. After a while, it becomes obvious that we are only getting more and more tired so we stop. I got out of bed and looked back at my wife who was still lying there. Like almost all of us over 50, she's put on a few pounds (or kilos or stone or whatever) but I certainly still find her very attractive. I'm standing there with a hardon looking at my nude wife and think, maybe I could masturbate here. So I did. After just a few strokes, much to my surprise, it feels like I am going to cum after all. Now, I've never done this (standing over wifey, etc) before so I was really surprised that I might cum especially since I certainly was not going to just a couple of minutes earlier. So I did; cum, that is. Except that I didn't. What came out was perhaps a quarter cup of clear, odorless fluid. There was a lot. It shot all over my wife's thigh and part of the bed. I've never been so shocked in my life. She was pretty amazed too! I still don't know what happened. I guess it was seminal fluid without the sperm but sure don't know. I'm pretty sure it wasn't urine because a) that just isn't a time one urinates & b) it didn't smell like it. No, neither of us thought to taste it. Weird stuff anyway.
Well, there is my first, and probably last, sex post. At least until the next time. Have a good one & be careful out there.
How about a totally different subject? SEX. You may note that I don't talk about sex much here. I'm pretty shy in person as well but I had the weirdest thing happen a few days ago and I just have to talk about it. We'd had a few drinks that day as well (3 or 4 maybe). And we decided that going in to bed and making love would be a good thing. We'd done this sort of thing before, of course, and were pretty sure that neither of us would cum after that much alcohol but wanted the closeness. (It's really great to feel that way about someone I've been with for over 25 years. It didn't last 10 with my first wife.) Anyway, we go in to bed and do our thing. After a while, it becomes obvious that we are only getting more and more tired so we stop. I got out of bed and looked back at my wife who was still lying there. Like almost all of us over 50, she's put on a few pounds (or kilos or stone or whatever) but I certainly still find her very attractive. I'm standing there with a hardon looking at my nude wife and think, maybe I could masturbate here. So I did. After just a few strokes, much to my surprise, it feels like I am going to cum after all. Now, I've never done this (standing over wifey, etc) before so I was really surprised that I might cum especially since I certainly was not going to just a couple of minutes earlier. So I did; cum, that is. Except that I didn't. What came out was perhaps a quarter cup of clear, odorless fluid. There was a lot. It shot all over my wife's thigh and part of the bed. I've never been so shocked in my life. She was pretty amazed too! I still don't know what happened. I guess it was seminal fluid without the sperm but sure don't know. I'm pretty sure it wasn't urine because a) that just isn't a time one urinates & b) it didn't smell like it. No, neither of us thought to taste it. Weird stuff anyway.
Well, there is my first, and probably last, sex post. At least until the next time. Have a good one & be careful out there.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Sale's over!
We managed to live through our yard sale but only just! The first day was really hot. I was soaked with perspiration the entire day. The second day was overcast so not as hot. That helped a lot. Each day I came in and immediately fell asleep for an hour or so. Then we went to bed about 9.
We made about $300 but the real object is to reduce the number of things we will have to store or cart around with us. Looked at it in that light and the sale was quite success. We won't have to worry about - a freezer, a refridgerator, a table saw, perhaps 50 records, 3 television sets and lots of smaller items. There was a fair amount left over but we'll get to that another day. One of these days we are going to call some charity to come load up their truck!
Weather is still overcast here. There is a tropical wave coming up from the south bringing pretty much constant showers. It's different for this area but it is fine with me. Highs of 75 or so are great.
Our son lives in San Diego so we are watching the fires out there with some trepidation. They are well inside the city however so we don't expect there is any real danger. This is an amazing technology though; here I am in Florida watching the smoke billow on a webcam in San Diego. I'm still waiting for the ability to be transported around like on Startrek. That will be the day!
Have a good one and be careful out there.
We made about $300 but the real object is to reduce the number of things we will have to store or cart around with us. Looked at it in that light and the sale was quite success. We won't have to worry about - a freezer, a refridgerator, a table saw, perhaps 50 records, 3 television sets and lots of smaller items. There was a fair amount left over but we'll get to that another day. One of these days we are going to call some charity to come load up their truck!
Weather is still overcast here. There is a tropical wave coming up from the south bringing pretty much constant showers. It's different for this area but it is fine with me. Highs of 75 or so are great.
Our son lives in San Diego so we are watching the fires out there with some trepidation. They are well inside the city however so we don't expect there is any real danger. This is an amazing technology though; here I am in Florida watching the smoke billow on a webcam in San Diego. I'm still waiting for the ability to be transported around like on Startrek. That will be the day!
Have a good one and be careful out there.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Yard Sale!
Our neighborhood is having a 2 day yard sale tomorrow and Friday. We have been putting things out in the garage for days so, of course, we had to work until 9 pm tonight getting last minute things done. If we can get rid of 50% of this stuff it will be fantastic. I've already emptied 4 garbage cans of trash out of the garage. We also made a trip to the hazardous waste facility with a number of items. What a thrill! We did have one thrill; we found our old Atari 400 complete with it's cassette tape drive and some game cartridges. We still talk about getting drunk one night and playing "Frogger". You try to get your frog across a busy highway. When the frog gets hit by a car it makes this noise - I can't explain it but when you are drunk it's really funny.
Naturally summer has returned for the event. It's hot & humid; don't know if we'll make it through the whole day. Setting it up we've only worked a couple of hours at a time. Fortunately we can close down whenever we want. All it means is that we'll make a few less dollars and have a larger trash bill when we get rid of the stuff.
Wish us luck. We'll be wishing to be elsewhere! And take care out there.
Naturally summer has returned for the event. It's hot & humid; don't know if we'll make it through the whole day. Setting it up we've only worked a couple of hours at a time. Fortunately we can close down whenever we want. All it means is that we'll make a few less dollars and have a larger trash bill when we get rid of the stuff.
Wish us luck. We'll be wishing to be elsewhere! And take care out there.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
It's a Beautiful Morning
Ah, morning! Don't know if I'm really a morning person but there is something amazing about the fresh smell of the morning.
I was afraid to say anything yesterday, it was so nice but this morning smells like fall might finally have come to Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons. This summer has been long and hot but it is time for a change. It might be here.
We have the car out on the driveway but it's been there for a week and I still haven't washed & waxed it so we can sell it. Hmmmm, think I have a problem selling it? Yep! I've even kept myself awake worrying about it. It's just a THING but I'm having trouble selling it. What an idiot.
Still, it's a beautiful morning in Florida. Hope it's as wonderful where ever you are.
I was afraid to say anything yesterday, it was so nice but this morning smells like fall might finally have come to Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons. This summer has been long and hot but it is time for a change. It might be here.
We have the car out on the driveway but it's been there for a week and I still haven't washed & waxed it so we can sell it. Hmmmm, think I have a problem selling it? Yep! I've even kept myself awake worrying about it. It's just a THING but I'm having trouble selling it. What an idiot.
Still, it's a beautiful morning in Florida. Hope it's as wonderful where ever you are.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Photos
I like taking photos. I've been doing it since college; some good, some bad. Just like every photographer! Here are a couple I made around the house the last couple of days. First is a little lizard who seems to be making a home in the bracket that holds our flag.
The next is the shadow cast by the antenna on a radio. We have one of those light bars in the bathroom that casts multiple shadows of the same object. I just liked seeing it. Seeing is not quite the same as having our eyes open.
Have a good one! (And, yes, I am using the old laptop pc to load these since Blogger won't do it via the Mac.)
The next is the shadow cast by the antenna on a radio. We have one of those light bars in the bathroom that casts multiple shadows of the same object. I just liked seeing it. Seeing is not quite the same as having our eyes open.
Have a good one! (And, yes, I am using the old laptop pc to load these since Blogger won't do it via the Mac.)
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bionic Man!
Remember the old tv series, Bionic Man? Well, I'm on my way! Had the cataract surgery last Wednesday. It all went fine; was over by noon and I seem to be recovering ok. My wife is a manic about giving me my eye drops every 4 hours. I suppose that's a good thing but it is a little scary. She isn't usually that careful about things. I finally decided to go for the standard distance lens rather than a multi-focal job. Things I read kept talking about good success with a few people and far from success with others. Much as a techno - wiz like myself would like the newest thing I also want a successful experience here, so I went for the 40 year old technology. WTF, call me a chicken.
The doctor said that he was expecting to see me again for my other eye and now that I've got the right one fixed, I can see the problems in my left eye. They gave me a little eye test and my left eye has degraded since June when I was tested last. It is noticeable even at home. I was looking at tv with my 'new' eye then my old (58 years now) one. There was a substantial yellow tint through my natural eye that wasn't there with the fake one. Yep, I guess I'll be back in a few months.
On a completely different front, I ordered a new GPS today from Amazon. I spent a LOT of time checking out handheld mapping GPS from the various manufacturers and ended up ordering a Garmin 60CSx. We'll probably be ordering the maps later but thought we'd give the base model a checkout first. No other manufacturer has a lineup as complete as Garmin. Glad that we like their products! The only hassle was that Amazon doesn't carry the car power cord. Had to order that from Garmin directly. HOPEFULLY it will be the right one.
Our daughter is visiting today. She lives about 25 miles away in St. Petersburg. She is toying with the idea of buying a house since the market seems to be down. We are offering her some suggestions without directly suggesting what she should do. I always find it better to let people make their own mistakes. Then whatever happens isn't your fault! LOL Besides, who ever takes advice? In this case, the people selling the houses are poorly ranked by the Better Business Bureau. That alone is a problem for me let alone the idea of purchasing a house in this market. Then we get going about what kind of loan she is getting, additional expenses she will be incurring, etc. I sure hope she gives it a miss.
Gotta go. Have a good one.
The doctor said that he was expecting to see me again for my other eye and now that I've got the right one fixed, I can see the problems in my left eye. They gave me a little eye test and my left eye has degraded since June when I was tested last. It is noticeable even at home. I was looking at tv with my 'new' eye then my old (58 years now) one. There was a substantial yellow tint through my natural eye that wasn't there with the fake one. Yep, I guess I'll be back in a few months.
On a completely different front, I ordered a new GPS today from Amazon. I spent a LOT of time checking out handheld mapping GPS from the various manufacturers and ended up ordering a Garmin 60CSx. We'll probably be ordering the maps later but thought we'd give the base model a checkout first. No other manufacturer has a lineup as complete as Garmin. Glad that we like their products! The only hassle was that Amazon doesn't carry the car power cord. Had to order that from Garmin directly. HOPEFULLY it will be the right one.
Our daughter is visiting today. She lives about 25 miles away in St. Petersburg. She is toying with the idea of buying a house since the market seems to be down. We are offering her some suggestions without directly suggesting what she should do. I always find it better to let people make their own mistakes. Then whatever happens isn't your fault! LOL Besides, who ever takes advice? In this case, the people selling the houses are poorly ranked by the Better Business Bureau. That alone is a problem for me let alone the idea of purchasing a house in this market. Then we get going about what kind of loan she is getting, additional expenses she will be incurring, etc. I sure hope she gives it a miss.
Gotta go. Have a good one.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Back in Florida
Hello world! We got back in Florida on Thursday night. It was a great trip. Sometimes the family can get a little obnoxious but this time everything and everyone was great. We ate in 4 restaurants; only 1 was totally pretentious; service was lousy in that one and 2 others. Then we came home & went out with another couple and that place had lousy food and lousy service. Boy, I am getting to be a total grouch!
Fortunately the home made food was very good. Lots of seafood, of course, since we were visiting the Pacific Northwest. Weather was excellent as well. We got rain a couple of times but it wasn't bad at all. Went up the Hurricane Ridge in the sun then came down in as close to zero visibility as I've ever seen. I doubt we could see 30 feet at times. I was driving about 15 mph! At the end, when you finally get off the mountain, you are in Port Angeles. There is a place that was still marked with emergency tape where a motorhome went through a guardrail into a little gully and killed the driver. I've seen pictures of the wreck via some of our RVing connections. The furniture in the RV that is supposed to be fastened to the walls came off the wall and crushed the driver to death. Much as I dislike governmental rules, something needs to be done. That just shouldn't happen and the RV industry had better firm up their self-regulation or Uncle Sam is going to be doing it for them.
One set of relatives have a house on "high bank" waterfront on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a very nice view but it's a climb of like 130 feet down to the beach. Our Florida flatland bodies didn't care for that much! Another set is building a new house on some Puget Sound waterfront. The lot cost $500K! They are still working and need to at that rate. I think I'll stick to cheaper houses and retirement. The third set live in a trailer. They were full-time RVers for many years but finally came to a stop on the Olympic Peninsula. They do still have a van conversion that they take various places for fishing, etc.
The animals came through their stay with their "aunt and uncle" just fine. The dog was really worried that we'd leave her again though. The cat was quiet all the way home (an hour & a half's drive). I took that to mean that he was glad to be coming home even though, being a cat, he would die before admitting he missed us. Saw the daughter yesterday, she lived through our absence as well. (She's 37, you'd kind of hope she'd make it!)
So now it's back to sorting through our stuff, selling some, giving some away, wishing we could sell the house for a reasonable sum. The four or five houses on our street that were for sale are still for sale so I'm in no hurry to get on the market. Why join a crowd of losers?
Have a good one!
Fortunately the home made food was very good. Lots of seafood, of course, since we were visiting the Pacific Northwest. Weather was excellent as well. We got rain a couple of times but it wasn't bad at all. Went up the Hurricane Ridge in the sun then came down in as close to zero visibility as I've ever seen. I doubt we could see 30 feet at times. I was driving about 15 mph! At the end, when you finally get off the mountain, you are in Port Angeles. There is a place that was still marked with emergency tape where a motorhome went through a guardrail into a little gully and killed the driver. I've seen pictures of the wreck via some of our RVing connections. The furniture in the RV that is supposed to be fastened to the walls came off the wall and crushed the driver to death. Much as I dislike governmental rules, something needs to be done. That just shouldn't happen and the RV industry had better firm up their self-regulation or Uncle Sam is going to be doing it for them.
One set of relatives have a house on "high bank" waterfront on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a very nice view but it's a climb of like 130 feet down to the beach. Our Florida flatland bodies didn't care for that much! Another set is building a new house on some Puget Sound waterfront. The lot cost $500K! They are still working and need to at that rate. I think I'll stick to cheaper houses and retirement. The third set live in a trailer. They were full-time RVers for many years but finally came to a stop on the Olympic Peninsula. They do still have a van conversion that they take various places for fishing, etc.
The animals came through their stay with their "aunt and uncle" just fine. The dog was really worried that we'd leave her again though. The cat was quiet all the way home (an hour & a half's drive). I took that to mean that he was glad to be coming home even though, being a cat, he would die before admitting he missed us. Saw the daughter yesterday, she lived through our absence as well. (She's 37, you'd kind of hope she'd make it!)
So now it's back to sorting through our stuff, selling some, giving some away, wishing we could sell the house for a reasonable sum. The four or five houses on our street that were for sale are still for sale so I'm in no hurry to get on the market. Why join a crowd of losers?
Have a good one!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tripping
Today we are off on our first flight since 2000. We found a relative to keep the dog & cat, made our reservations and we are off to Seattle. Wife has lots of relatives around there and we lived there ourselves for several years. In fact, we each lived there when we were married to other people. That's a LONG time ago! LOL
The trip is already being stressful. US Airways cancelled our flight without telling us. We signed on to their site to get boarding passes at 22:00 last night and found there was no flight. We had a car coming for us at 06:00 so we were NOT happy about the lack of notification. We got another flight (9 hours later) and should have seats. We'll see.
Packing is interesting. We went out and got all these little bottles of shampoo & stuff. Frequent travelers know the rules but we keep having to look up if we can take this or that. I'm hoping we got it mostly right. We are getting out long pants for the first time in months. It's pretty funny. Our Florida bodies are going to be shocked by the change in temperature.
Should be back in 10 days or so. Keep safe, it's dangerous out there.
The trip is already being stressful. US Airways cancelled our flight without telling us. We signed on to their site to get boarding passes at 22:00 last night and found there was no flight. We had a car coming for us at 06:00 so we were NOT happy about the lack of notification. We got another flight (9 hours later) and should have seats. We'll see.
Packing is interesting. We went out and got all these little bottles of shampoo & stuff. Frequent travelers know the rules but we keep having to look up if we can take this or that. I'm hoping we got it mostly right. We are getting out long pants for the first time in months. It's pretty funny. Our Florida bodies are going to be shocked by the change in temperature.
Should be back in 10 days or so. Keep safe, it's dangerous out there.
Monday, August 13, 2007
An idea
If you've read my blog much you probably know I'm an atheist. Even so, here is a bumper sticker I found on the web that I like. I'm using an old laptop pc so hopefully I can embed this image. If it doesn't work, I'll probably keep trying so hang in there.
Have a good one.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Dull times
We've had a couple of pretty dull days here in Palm (less) Harbor (less). Yesterday the big thing was to mow the back yard. It's too narrow for the yard guys to get their professional equipment back there. Today the excitement was a visit to Sam's Club. Well, actually that was a step in a direction.
I talked about my unhappiness with the cataract options given me. One option was to keep on using glasses. I went back to the optometrist at Sam's for another exam. My eyes have deteriorated in the six months since she tested me last but glasses can still bring them back to something reasonable so that's where I'm going. If I can limp along getting new glasses every six months or a year; there might be something promising on the implanted lens field when I finally MUST have it. After all, if I should live to 78 ( that's when my dad died) I'll have had them for 20 years. If I make it to 93 like my mom, then it would be 35 years! That's a long time to live with someone else's mistake. Granted they will always continue to make improvements but the current version of multi-focal-length lenses just aren't that great. Internet chat rooms suggest a 40% success rate with another 20% rating them as ok. I'd like something a little better and if I can wait a couple of years and get it; why not!
Sunday is my wife's 57th birthday. Our daughter is taking her out to dinner; just the two of them. Then they come back here for dessert. It was what my wife wanted since, if we move, she won't get to spend much one-on-one time with the kid. Right now I'm thinking berries & cream; something simple. Of course the kid probably won't eat it but if I did coconut creme pie (fav of the wife) I'm pretty sure she wouldn't eat it. She's got some weird eating habits for someone who is in her mid-thirties.
Probably won't be back until after the big celebration. Have a good weekend y'all.
I talked about my unhappiness with the cataract options given me. One option was to keep on using glasses. I went back to the optometrist at Sam's for another exam. My eyes have deteriorated in the six months since she tested me last but glasses can still bring them back to something reasonable so that's where I'm going. If I can limp along getting new glasses every six months or a year; there might be something promising on the implanted lens field when I finally MUST have it. After all, if I should live to 78 ( that's when my dad died) I'll have had them for 20 years. If I make it to 93 like my mom, then it would be 35 years! That's a long time to live with someone else's mistake. Granted they will always continue to make improvements but the current version of multi-focal-length lenses just aren't that great. Internet chat rooms suggest a 40% success rate with another 20% rating them as ok. I'd like something a little better and if I can wait a couple of years and get it; why not!
Sunday is my wife's 57th birthday. Our daughter is taking her out to dinner; just the two of them. Then they come back here for dessert. It was what my wife wanted since, if we move, she won't get to spend much one-on-one time with the kid. Right now I'm thinking berries & cream; something simple. Of course the kid probably won't eat it but if I did coconut creme pie (fav of the wife) I'm pretty sure she wouldn't eat it. She's got some weird eating habits for someone who is in her mid-thirties.
Probably won't be back until after the big celebration. Have a good weekend y'all.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Im really tired of it all
Someone sent me a link to a bunch of questions proposed by a group trying to help the US Presidential election system to a better place. One of the things they would like us to consider is internet voting. Obviously it's technically possible. It would be direct and quick; the two problems I see are 1) internet access for some and 2) only one vote per person. These objections should be pretty easy to deal with; there must be a hundred ways!
The thing is that there hasn't been a candidate that's been worth a shit in years! There is so much coverage of every tiny aspect of their lives that a 'normal' person wouldn't bother! Think about all the people who've been embarrassed by having Mexican maids who were in the country illegally. Think about the guy who went on a vacation and was photographed with a blonde on his lap. Think about how Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting a blow job from an intern.
ALL these things were wrong. Each of the people involved were doing something either illegal or, according to our mores, immoral. The problem is that NOT ONE of those things had to do with whether or not the person might be a great president. If you put my life under that microscope, with the power and resources of every newspaper in the country behind you, I would be laughed out of the race. And I'm someone who has had maybe 6 traffic tickets in my life; served as an officer in the US Army (honorably!); have had positions requiring security clearance for most of my professional life; have NEVER performed any act that would be considered a felony (as far as I know!).
It just isn't right. If we'd like "the best and the brightest" to lead us; we have to let up on the stupid stuff and pay attention to the important stuff. Any ideas? I don't care who wins the next election, I already know they'll be a greedy, crooked bastard.
On that uplifting note; have a good one please! And definitely, take care out there.
The thing is that there hasn't been a candidate that's been worth a shit in years! There is so much coverage of every tiny aspect of their lives that a 'normal' person wouldn't bother! Think about all the people who've been embarrassed by having Mexican maids who were in the country illegally. Think about the guy who went on a vacation and was photographed with a blonde on his lap. Think about how Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting a blow job from an intern.
ALL these things were wrong. Each of the people involved were doing something either illegal or, according to our mores, immoral. The problem is that NOT ONE of those things had to do with whether or not the person might be a great president. If you put my life under that microscope, with the power and resources of every newspaper in the country behind you, I would be laughed out of the race. And I'm someone who has had maybe 6 traffic tickets in my life; served as an officer in the US Army (honorably!); have had positions requiring security clearance for most of my professional life; have NEVER performed any act that would be considered a felony (as far as I know!).
It just isn't right. If we'd like "the best and the brightest" to lead us; we have to let up on the stupid stuff and pay attention to the important stuff. Any ideas? I don't care who wins the next election, I already know they'll be a greedy, crooked bastard.
On that uplifting note; have a good one please! And definitely, take care out there.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Oops, forgot!
Forgot to mention that I put off my cataract surgery for a couple of months. Reasons: 1) I don't really like the clinic. It is a cattle call kind of place. They can afford the absolute best equipment, have practice with tons of procedures but you get no more than about 30 seconds of the doctor's time. 2) I can have either a standard fixed focus lens or (for $2500 that the insurance won't re-imburse) a multi-focal lens. Unfortunately, the web chatter that I've been reading isn't terribly reassuring that the things work (like they work 40% of the time!). 3) My optometrist said she could fit me with glasses that would delay the need for surgery. If I can put it off a few years maybe things will be clearer (if you don't mind the lousy play on words!).
Went up and checked out our trailer yesterday & today. Spent this a.m. on the roof trying to find a leak that has appeared. It's a real pain in the you know what. Guess that's why I get the big bucks. Or maybe that's why I need to take the trailer to someone and pay them the big bucks to find it. You know what cheap little me will choose don't you. Will go up later in the week after it rains to see how successful I was.
Went to the library twice last week with book & video donations. We are going through our collections with a thought to storing as few as possible. My wife is lots better at it than I am. She's a ruthless critter sometimes. We are just going to store our photo albums. It would be nice to scan them into the computer but it would probably take a year and we don't have that kind of time, we hope!
I keep reading discouraging things about the housing market (discouraging since we want to sell; it might be a great time to buy). Of course there are lots of people who've gotten into trouble with Adjustable Rate Mortgages & stuff. I don't give much financial advice but here's a piece of advice that works in almost every circumstance: IF IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.
Have a good one and just say NO to those once in a lifetime offers. Take care.
Went up and checked out our trailer yesterday & today. Spent this a.m. on the roof trying to find a leak that has appeared. It's a real pain in the you know what. Guess that's why I get the big bucks. Or maybe that's why I need to take the trailer to someone and pay them the big bucks to find it. You know what cheap little me will choose don't you. Will go up later in the week after it rains to see how successful I was.
Went to the library twice last week with book & video donations. We are going through our collections with a thought to storing as few as possible. My wife is lots better at it than I am. She's a ruthless critter sometimes. We are just going to store our photo albums. It would be nice to scan them into the computer but it would probably take a year and we don't have that kind of time, we hope!
I keep reading discouraging things about the housing market (discouraging since we want to sell; it might be a great time to buy). Of course there are lots of people who've gotten into trouble with Adjustable Rate Mortgages & stuff. I don't give much financial advice but here's a piece of advice that works in almost every circumstance: IF IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.
Have a good one and just say NO to those once in a lifetime offers. Take care.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
8 Things about me
Heard of this so thought I'd do it even though no one asked me! I'm supposed to tell 8 things(facts or habits) about me.
1. I had the quietest Army service of anyone I ever heard of. I was in the Infantry from 1971 to 73 (Vietnam was going strong) but I sat in Ft Bliss, TX (in El Paso) and shuffled papers. I did more than Mr Bush but only because I showed up!
2. I'm certainly addicted to Scotch. Laphroaig is my favorite but generally I drink something cheaper.
3. I always say I don't smoke but in fact I've smoked a pipe for 35 years. I buy a package of pipe tobacco and it lasts me about six months. I'll have a pipe full every 2 or 3 weeks whether I need it or not.
4. When I left high school I had math phobia. After the Army I taught my self geometry then went back to college to get a degree in Computer Science with minors in math and accounting.
5. I always get motion sick when I'm not driving. Twenty miles is about my limit unless it is twisty then it's MUCH less. The one exception is when my wife is driving. She can take me anywhere but I do fall asleep pretty quickly!
6. I was a virgin until I was 19.
7. I'm a technology addict but am only interested in things that work for me. For example, I don't care about carrying music around with me so have no need of an iPod. But just try to pry the cell phone out of my fingers and I'll have to kill you.
8. I'm a mystery freak - only old and usually British ones. They put most people to sleep but I read them again and again.
That's it for today. Have a good one.
1. I had the quietest Army service of anyone I ever heard of. I was in the Infantry from 1971 to 73 (Vietnam was going strong) but I sat in Ft Bliss, TX (in El Paso) and shuffled papers. I did more than Mr Bush but only because I showed up!
2. I'm certainly addicted to Scotch. Laphroaig is my favorite but generally I drink something cheaper.
3. I always say I don't smoke but in fact I've smoked a pipe for 35 years. I buy a package of pipe tobacco and it lasts me about six months. I'll have a pipe full every 2 or 3 weeks whether I need it or not.
4. When I left high school I had math phobia. After the Army I taught my self geometry then went back to college to get a degree in Computer Science with minors in math and accounting.
5. I always get motion sick when I'm not driving. Twenty miles is about my limit unless it is twisty then it's MUCH less. The one exception is when my wife is driving. She can take me anywhere but I do fall asleep pretty quickly!
6. I was a virgin until I was 19.
7. I'm a technology addict but am only interested in things that work for me. For example, I don't care about carrying music around with me so have no need of an iPod. But just try to pry the cell phone out of my fingers and I'll have to kill you.
8. I'm a mystery freak - only old and usually British ones. They put most people to sleep but I read them again and again.
That's it for today. Have a good one.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Nothing much here...
I'm trying to do a better job at writing this thing. Depressing though when you don't have much to say!
Here's a link for Cinn who seems to think she lives in "Heaven". The title is: Murder Rate Soars In Philadelphia
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml
Of course stuff like that is reported all the time. I always like the line, attributed to Mark Twain I believe, that there are "Liars, Damn Liars and Statistics". With the advent of computers it is easier than ever to compile statistics and, therefore, screw them up. I only took one class in statistics in college but it was enough that I never believe statistics. It is SO easy to foul them up not to mention easy to slant them by asking the wrong question. I mean, how do you answer the question "Are you still beating your wife?"
We are going though our books trying to decide which to donate to the library. It's tough for either of us to part with a book, even one we haven't looked at in years. Still, it's gotta be done. Last time we moved we had 70 or 80 boxes of books; we just can't cart them all around with us any more. Not a lot by some people's standards but most are paperbacks dating from the days when they were sized for the pocket not sized to make the paper companies rich.
Have a good one.
Here's a link for Cinn who seems to think she lives in "Heaven". The title is: Murder Rate Soars In Philadelphia
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml
Of course stuff like that is reported all the time. I always like the line, attributed to Mark Twain I believe, that there are "Liars, Damn Liars and Statistics". With the advent of computers it is easier than ever to compile statistics and, therefore, screw them up. I only took one class in statistics in college but it was enough that I never believe statistics. It is SO easy to foul them up not to mention easy to slant them by asking the wrong question. I mean, how do you answer the question "Are you still beating your wife?"
We are going though our books trying to decide which to donate to the library. It's tough for either of us to part with a book, even one we haven't looked at in years. Still, it's gotta be done. Last time we moved we had 70 or 80 boxes of books; we just can't cart them all around with us any more. Not a lot by some people's standards but most are paperbacks dating from the days when they were sized for the pocket not sized to make the paper companies rich.
Have a good one.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
All the news .....
Since my last post one of the MIA's came back! Cinn contacted me so now I can go back to reading of her amazing life. Cool! Thank you, Cinn. She's trying to live a more positive life & write a more positive blog. I certainly wish her luck. I've been accused of being rather negative myself; I suppose it's true. But changing a personality trait is difficult, at least for me.
On a completely different front, (depressing as it happens) we had 3 people hit by lightning in the Tampa Bay area yesterday. Two are doing fairly well, the third is still pretty bad. As it happens, I accidentally found this video of lightning hitting a tree. Gives you an idea of the power of lightning; if you decide to visit Florida, don't fool around. We get a lot of lightning.
http://www.break.com/index/lightning-strike-caught-on-tape.html
A final totally unconnected note - my wife just left for the library. They have the Harry Potter that she reserved several months ago; they open at 10:00 and by 10:10 she was leaving. Can you spell 'addict'? LOL It's cool though that so many people are so involved in the series. If only a few young people learn the love of reading it will be great.
Until next time....
On a completely different front, (depressing as it happens) we had 3 people hit by lightning in the Tampa Bay area yesterday. Two are doing fairly well, the third is still pretty bad. As it happens, I accidentally found this video of lightning hitting a tree. Gives you an idea of the power of lightning; if you decide to visit Florida, don't fool around. We get a lot of lightning.
http://www.break.com/index/lightning-strike-caught-on-tape.html
A final totally unconnected note - my wife just left for the library. They have the Harry Potter that she reserved several months ago; they open at 10:00 and by 10:10 she was leaving. Can you spell 'addict'? LOL It's cool though that so many people are so involved in the series. If only a few young people learn the love of reading it will be great.
Until next time....
Saturday, July 14, 2007
MIA
It's odd how people disappear from the internet. I know some people are harassed and leave for that reason but some just seem to disappear without reason or explanation. There are two bloggers that I used to read who have just dropped out of sight.
Cinn from Dead on the Gearshift decided to change the direction of her blog and decided that only certain people would be allowed to access it. I found it odd because she was already very careful about hiding her identity. Her blog was the tale of her trials and tribulations as a single mom.
A guy named Lee wrote THREE blogs, the only one I can remember was The Curate's Egg. He was quite open about his identity but his blogs just disappeared. I enjoyed reading his blogs because the writing was so good. I even exchanged emails with him a few times. But now he's gone.
I guess some people disappear because they get tired; some lose their password (like me!); perhaps some lose computer access. It's up to them, of course, to do as they wish but it does bother me to have an electronic friend go away. Isn't it odd that we can learn to care for people who we know only as bits and bytes.
Have a good one!
Cinn from Dead on the Gearshift decided to change the direction of her blog and decided that only certain people would be allowed to access it. I found it odd because she was already very careful about hiding her identity. Her blog was the tale of her trials and tribulations as a single mom.
A guy named Lee wrote THREE blogs, the only one I can remember was The Curate's Egg. He was quite open about his identity but his blogs just disappeared. I enjoyed reading his blogs because the writing was so good. I even exchanged emails with him a few times. But now he's gone.
I guess some people disappear because they get tired; some lose their password (like me!); perhaps some lose computer access. It's up to them, of course, to do as they wish but it does bother me to have an electronic friend go away. Isn't it odd that we can learn to care for people who we know only as bits and bytes.
Have a good one!
Friday, July 13, 2007
The UN-cramp
Good old dumbshit Don managed the impossible, I figured out what I did to my password! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING but I lucked out finally. Please believe me when I tell you it's a bad idea to change your password after a few drinks. LOL I'm totally sober this a.m. but finally got the password typed the right-wrong way if you know what I mean. Whew, what an ordeal.
Went and got the measurements done yesterday for my cataract surgery. What a pain in the ass. I'm going to St Lukes Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, FL. It is probably a fine place but if you don't have to wait 30 minutes to see a nurse they think they are doing something wrong. It's a real factory setting but at least I feel that they have plenty of experience.
I'll see if I can't do this more often. Have a good one!
And remember I'm back to don34685 at Yahoo dot com. Hurray!
Went and got the measurements done yesterday for my cataract surgery. What a pain in the ass. I'm going to St Lukes Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, FL. It is probably a fine place but if you don't have to wait 30 minutes to see a nurse they think they are doing something wrong. It's a real factory setting but at least I feel that they have plenty of experience.
I'll see if I can't do this more often. Have a good one!
And remember I'm back to don34685 at Yahoo dot com. Hurray!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Not Dead Yet
Hello all. Yes, I'm getting worse about updating the blog. Well, I only started it so I could leave comments on other blogs so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Haven't been doing much. We keep talking about moving and doing as little as possible however I think that is changing. We sold our little bass boat last week. A nice couple who look like they will use it bought it. Next are the BMW and the spa. The BMW will be difficult. We picked in up in Munich on the European Delivery Plan on May 15, 1993. The first few years my wife commuted in it but then when we lived in New Jersey she worked from home. In Holland she had a company car and I used it around town. Now that we are retired, we mostly use the truck because it fits our needs better. As a result, we have a 14 year old car with around 83,000 original miles. What a shame. But we both LOVE driving the car. It has spoiled us for anything else. It will be tough to sell it.
Otherwise, I am having cararact surgery at the end of the month. I'm only 58 but I guess it's my time. Right eye this time but they say it won't be long before the left requires it. The sad thing is that our insurance covers the operation and a basic lense but won't do anything about the new improved lens they can implant. The new ones have three focusing areas - far, near and close rather than the one distance older lenses. It will cost us $2500 out of our pocket but I really can't see getting the single focus ones. Any advice?
ONE MORE THING! I had a brain cramp and screwed up my yahoo id. I used to be don34685 at yahoo.com - NOW I'm duhdon34685 at yahoo.com. Sorry but I'm just an idiot sometimes.
Take care of yourselves; it's tough out there.
Otherwise, I am having cararact surgery at the end of the month. I'm only 58 but I guess it's my time. Right eye this time but they say it won't be long before the left requires it. The sad thing is that our insurance covers the operation and a basic lense but won't do anything about the new improved lens they can implant. The new ones have three focusing areas - far, near and close rather than the one distance older lenses. It will cost us $2500 out of our pocket but I really can't see getting the single focus ones. Any advice?
ONE MORE THING! I had a brain cramp and screwed up my yahoo id. I used to be don34685 at yahoo.com - NOW I'm duhdon34685 at yahoo.com. Sorry but I'm just an idiot sometimes.
Take care of yourselves; it's tough out there.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Home Again
Got home last Thursday - a month to the day since we left. Drove 6700+ miles in that time & the truck went over 100,000 miles. About 35,000 of that has been towing our trailer. Had a great time. Learned a lot about the west. We are planning on moving to a little town west of Las Vegas, Nevada as soon as we can sell our house here in Florida. The humidity here is just killing both of us.
We had rain, snow & sleet leaving Colorado Springs; that was fun. Messy too! Then had a dust storm in Nevada. We were in a park in the middle of a valley between two mountain ranges. The valley was probably 40 miles across. We couldn't see the mountains on either side! Then it started misting and turned my nice clean truck into a muddy mess! In Amarillo we stopped at a park and turned on the tv. We saw there was a major storm about an hour away headed for us. The first course would be a tornado; the second was rain, 60mph winds and hail the size of baseballs. We hooked the rig back up & drove away. We only drove about an hour but found a park where we were next to a couple of nice sturdy concrete buildings. We got quite a bit of wind but the buildings blocked it from hitting us directly so all we got was a bunch of rain. Whew!
Kept dropping south into milder weather until we got home. 85 degrees & moderate humidity - Florida at it's best. Unfortunately the real estate market still seems rotten. Well, we'll stay here, fix the house & yard & wait a while. Our next door neighbor is retiring the first of June after 35 years with the Federal government. We should have quite a party!
Hope things are going well for everyone. Take care.
We had rain, snow & sleet leaving Colorado Springs; that was fun. Messy too! Then had a dust storm in Nevada. We were in a park in the middle of a valley between two mountain ranges. The valley was probably 40 miles across. We couldn't see the mountains on either side! Then it started misting and turned my nice clean truck into a muddy mess! In Amarillo we stopped at a park and turned on the tv. We saw there was a major storm about an hour away headed for us. The first course would be a tornado; the second was rain, 60mph winds and hail the size of baseballs. We hooked the rig back up & drove away. We only drove about an hour but found a park where we were next to a couple of nice sturdy concrete buildings. We got quite a bit of wind but the buildings blocked it from hitting us directly so all we got was a bunch of rain. Whew!
Kept dropping south into milder weather until we got home. 85 degrees & moderate humidity - Florida at it's best. Unfortunately the real estate market still seems rotten. Well, we'll stay here, fix the house & yard & wait a while. Our next door neighbor is retiring the first of June after 35 years with the Federal government. We should have quite a party!
Hope things are going well for everyone. Take care.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Outta Here!
Hello all. Looks like it's over a month again since I posted anything. I can't imagine how people post daily. I'd be limited to talking about my trip to the hardware store or something. Today I do have something exciting to write about. We are off on our trip starting Thursday! Hurray!
We'll leave here Thursday morning to go up to where we store the trailer in Crystal River. We'll spend the night there; go out to dinner with our relatives, then Friday morning hit the road. We are planning on making it to the Escapees park in Summerdale, Alabama the first day. It's a long drive for us but we need to get started. The first day is usually tough on everyone.
Don't know if I've mentioned it before but we travel with our dog & cat. The dog LOVES going with us; the cat would rather not but when we first got him I said he was either a member of the family and would come or he wouldn't be in our family. That was 4 years and 3 major trips ago. The dog gets the backseat of the truck and the cat gets to be under it. He howls if the road is really rough but otherwise he just hangs out. When we stop for gas he hops out & looks around then goes back under the seat when we start off again. When we stop for the night, he stretches out on the couch & acts like he owns the place. Really he's been a great traveler.
He and the dog have both gotten baths in honor of the trip. They are all fluffy now. Still losing hair like crazy but that's what they do. We cleaned the truck this evening, filled a vacuum bag that was less than half full when we started. Now I need to get the outside cleaned tomorrow. And buy some food items and buy lots of liquor and buy odds & ends and load all this stuff into the truck and take my wife out to dinner and try to keep her from flipping out with excitement. Jeez!
We hope to visit friends in Colorado Springs for a couple of days then go down to Lost Wages for a few days. We are looking for a place to live in the west and Vegas is the first possible place. We may go on to visit Reno or may decide to skip it and just go down into Arizona & New Mexico. We'll spend as much time as we can checking places out then return home. The mail will be held until April 28 so I guess we have to be back then! Maybe I'll post something from the road but..... Gee, more than one post a month would be a new record wouldn't it?
We did finally get the bathroom fixed up. Replaced the faucets too since the old ones were leaking and of a type that cannot really be repaired. It looks pretty good if I do say so. All the same you can bet that we won't be removing the wall paper from the other three walls.
We got the carpet in our bedroom replaced in February by Empire - you know the ones who will install new carpet tomorrow. We had them out here once already to glue down the edge where the carpet butts against the tile - the original guys didn't glue it. Now they are supposed to come out again tomorrow because the seam is totally visible. It just shouldn't be visible after a month but we can't get it to not show. Hopefully they can fix it. What fun.
Hope you all have a good month. I'll write more when we return if not before.
We'll leave here Thursday morning to go up to where we store the trailer in Crystal River. We'll spend the night there; go out to dinner with our relatives, then Friday morning hit the road. We are planning on making it to the Escapees park in Summerdale, Alabama the first day. It's a long drive for us but we need to get started. The first day is usually tough on everyone.
Don't know if I've mentioned it before but we travel with our dog & cat. The dog LOVES going with us; the cat would rather not but when we first got him I said he was either a member of the family and would come or he wouldn't be in our family. That was 4 years and 3 major trips ago. The dog gets the backseat of the truck and the cat gets to be under it. He howls if the road is really rough but otherwise he just hangs out. When we stop for gas he hops out & looks around then goes back under the seat when we start off again. When we stop for the night, he stretches out on the couch & acts like he owns the place. Really he's been a great traveler.
He and the dog have both gotten baths in honor of the trip. They are all fluffy now. Still losing hair like crazy but that's what they do. We cleaned the truck this evening, filled a vacuum bag that was less than half full when we started. Now I need to get the outside cleaned tomorrow. And buy some food items and buy lots of liquor and buy odds & ends and load all this stuff into the truck and take my wife out to dinner and try to keep her from flipping out with excitement. Jeez!
We hope to visit friends in Colorado Springs for a couple of days then go down to Lost Wages for a few days. We are looking for a place to live in the west and Vegas is the first possible place. We may go on to visit Reno or may decide to skip it and just go down into Arizona & New Mexico. We'll spend as much time as we can checking places out then return home. The mail will be held until April 28 so I guess we have to be back then! Maybe I'll post something from the road but..... Gee, more than one post a month would be a new record wouldn't it?
We did finally get the bathroom fixed up. Replaced the faucets too since the old ones were leaking and of a type that cannot really be repaired. It looks pretty good if I do say so. All the same you can bet that we won't be removing the wall paper from the other three walls.
We got the carpet in our bedroom replaced in February by Empire - you know the ones who will install new carpet tomorrow. We had them out here once already to glue down the edge where the carpet butts against the tile - the original guys didn't glue it. Now they are supposed to come out again tomorrow because the seam is totally visible. It just shouldn't be visible after a month but we can't get it to not show. Hopefully they can fix it. What fun.
Hope you all have a good month. I'll write more when we return if not before.
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